Interesting coral I've never seen in lfs

[Udest]

I found out about today called Manicina areolata and was wondering if anyone seen it for sale anywhere apparently it come in as a hitch hiker on gulf rocks
it caught my interest because it seems super hardy and spawns easily within the aquarium

 

[BlazinNano]

Interesting. I have never seen one. Looks like the skeleton of a bubble coral. Wonder if it would color up. May have to add this to the watch list and see if anyone has one. Did you get it?

 

[Udest]

nah i haven't gotten a specimen yet from what I do understand its is a gulf coast species that occasionally come in on LR from there it is an open brain species though that seems to be amazingly resilient here's a wiki on it.

Manicina areolata - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

apparently in 2002 there was a red tide event that wiped out alot of them in the gulf so i was wondering if since then anyone encounter them in the hobby apparently I have a thing for odd ball corals since thats mostly what i have : P go figure.

 

[BlazinNano]

nah i haven't gotten a specimen yet from what I do understand its is a gulf coast species that occasionally come in on LR from there it is an open brain species though that seems to be amazingly resilient here's a wiki on it.

Manicina areolata - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

apparently in 2002 there was a red tide event that wiped out alot of them in the gulf so i was wondering if since then anyone encounter them in the hobby apparently I have a thing for odd ball corals since thats mostly what i have : P go figure.

The red tide down here sucked.

 

[Vette67]

That looks very similar to one I have, the one on the left. I bought this at a frag swap, probably 3 years ago, and didn’t ask the name (because I wouldn’t remember a designer name anyway). Not sure if they are the same, but looks very similar. It has been growing well in my tank, and has encrusted onto that rock.

 

[andrewkw]

The reason you have never seen this for sale is it's illegal to sell stony corals from the Atlantic.

 

[AcroNem]

^+1

 

[Mark Bradley]

The reason you have never seen this for sale is it's illegal to sell stony corals from the Atlantic.

I didn't know that - thanks

 

[Udest]

Well that's no good if none are in propagation what are we gonna learn about them as we know just about every organization that would be doing anything is likey to be massively under funded these days , not to mention other things going on in the gulf.

Btw aren't there aqua culture operations 6 miles off of Miami so couldn't we get them there?

 

[Bam327]

@Ron Reefman have you ever seen one of these in the Gulf?

 

[SCReef'n]

There are numerous zoos and aquariums that are trying to propagate these Corals however they are not available for sale. Here is a cool video on the subject.

 

[Ron Reefman]

@Bam327, you asked. Corals we see in the shallow spots we normally snorkel. Most of them are not photosynthetic.

We don't snorkel the big reef but once every 3 or 4 years. We can't collect, we can't even touch and much of it is too deep for me to reach anyway.

 

[User1]

Btw aren't there aqua culture operations 6 miles off of Miami so couldn't we get them there?

Yes, and no. Yes, there are a couple different aquaculture businesses with TBS being one. However laws are still laws and they need to be followed. So no, he doesn't get to harvest corals in his zones but he is allowed to take what he puts in for "aquaculture". And what that has on it is what is sent.

I mean he doesn't just get to dive around off shore and collect. He uses the rock he puts in and takes out to send. Great rock btw with amazing life.

 

[Udest]

Thats kind of what i was thinking you get what comes on what grow on it , though i was thinking perhaps someone should more or less purposefully grow those to be shipped out .

also the Atlantic reefs were one of the big draw that got me into salts to begin with thats why i am interested in those species in particular.

 

[BlazinNano]

The reason you have never seen this for sale is it's illegal to sell stony corals from the Atlantic.

I think there is going to probably be a loop hole on this one as it came on LR. I may be wrong but I would think if you bought the rock legally then the hitch hiker is just part of it.

 

[Ron Reefman]

The reason you have never seen this for sale is it's illegal to sell stony corals from the Atlantic.

Not exactly, and I feel a need to be accurate here.

The collection of stony coral (sps and lps) in the state of Florida is illegal for ordinary people and people with Florida fishing licenses (like me). But there are some people licensed by the state that can collect in various limited quantities. Gorgonians and soft corals can be collected in limited quantities by licensed collectors (like me). These laws (not rules) only apply to waters within the jurisdiction of the State of Florida. All other countries in the Caribbean may have VERY different laws. Not to mention all the countries along the eastern shores of the Atlantic (Europe & Africa).

 

[andrewkw]

Not exactly, and I feel a need to be accurate here.

The collection of stony coral (sps and lps) in the state of Florida is illegal for ordinary people and people with Florida fishing licenses (like me). But there are some people licensed by the state that can collect in various limited quantities. Gorgonians and soft corals can be collected in limited quantities by licensed collectors (like me). These laws (not rules) only apply to waters within the jurisdiction of the State of Florida. All other countries in the Caribbean may have VERY different laws. Not to mention all the countries along the eastern shores of the Atlantic (Europe & Africa).

Are you sure they can sell? I can't recall ever seeing any Atlantic hard corals for sale anywhere ever in a commercial setting. Very very rarely you see someone post about something that grew on their cultured live rock. Or in years past when live rock was collected, but again don't recall any hard corals being for sale if tiny fragments came on the rock so be it..

There is no cites quota for any stony corals from any Caribbean country as far as I know, unless there is some new country exporting I've never seen any over the last several years. This also applies to live rock. Gorgonians although they technically do have a skeleton are classified differently. This is why when you see shipments of royal gramma / french angel / cleanup crew, ect they often come with gorgonians. Also why Florida Ricordea (the species Florida Ricordea not just from Florida itself) have become entirely polyp based where as years ago you could actually get rocks full of them.

 

[DeniseAndy]

I think I may have it on some live rock I bought a week+ ago. Does this look like it? Sorry bad picture. I will try to get a better one. This pic was only 24hrs after I got the rock. It looks better now.

 

[Udest]

If the base of the skeleton is cone shaped it's more than likely it

 

[BlazinNano]

Are you sure they can sell? I can't recall ever seeing any Atlantic hard corals for sale anywhere ever in a commercial setting. Very very rarely you see someone post about something that grew on their cultured live rock. Or in years past when live rock was collected, but again don't recall any hard corals being for sale if tiny fragments came on the rock so be it..

There is no cites quota for any stony corals from any Caribbean country as far as I know, unless there is some new country exporting I've never seen any over the last several years. This also applies to live rock. Gorgonians although they technically do have a skeleton are classified differently. This is why when you see shipments of royal gramma / french angel / cleanup crew, ect they often come with gorgonians. Also why Florida Ricordea (the species Florida Ricordea not just from Florida itself) have become entirely polyp based where as years ago you could actually get rocks full of them.

You can not collect SPS from Florida but if you ever see anyone who buys LR from Florida it is full of hitchhikers so if something is already on the rocks then they are not selling the coral they are selling the coral. The ricordea may not actually be in Florida waters, I am not sure how that works. I remember there use to be a company who sold Caribbean Zoas that were on shells because they could not collect the rocks but if it was on dead shell it was fine. They had some cool stuff. They were out of Miami. Not sure how far out they were going to collect everything.