Mystery LPS: ID assistance needed

[tadrielobrien]

We got this coral several months ago, and we have not been able to successfully ID it thus far. It is doing great and has grown quite a bit, we would just love to know what it is so we can do a bit more research as to how it grows (split, bud, etc).

 

[Timfish]

Looks kinda like a rose coral,

Rose Coral - Manicina areolata - Stony Corals - - Caribbean Reefs

Florent's Guide To The Caribbean Reefs - Rose Coral - Manicina areolata - Stony Corals - - Stony Corals - Caribbean, Bahamas, Florida -

www.reefguide.org

 

[Cell]

Looks like a favia to me.

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Some form of Favia, rose coral is unlikely since it's from the Caribbean and all Caribbean corals are illegal to keep.

 

[Just John]

Looks like a favia to me.

Cell's one of the smart ones, so I'll go with whatever he thinks.

 

[Timfish]

Some form of Favia, rose coral is unlikely since it's from the Caribbean and all Caribbean corals are illegal to keep.

It's illegal to collect and import wild caribbean corals. Rose corals have been captive raised in the past and are available on Caribbean maricultured live rock. Juveniles look like this but and can be more colorful:

http://www.coralsoftheworld.org/preview/0585_C01_04/

 

[encrustingacro]

Looks kinda like a rose coral,

Rose Coral - Manicina areolata - Stony Corals - - Caribbean Reefs

Florent's Guide To The Caribbean Reefs - Rose Coral - Manicina areolata - Stony Corals - - Stony Corals - Caribbean, Bahamas, Florida -

www.reefguide.org

definitely not a rose coral. Almost all stony corals come from the pacific, and the only strain of stony coral not from the pacific comes from the red sea. That coral is probably a dipsastraea.

 

[encrustingacro]

For whoever who says it is a favia, remember that after a reclassification, all favias are now in the atlantic. Most favias have been reclassified to dipsastraea, with other species being in astraeosmilia, favites, goniastrea, and other genuses.

 

[Cell]

For whoever who says it is a favia, remember that after a reclassification, all favias are now in the atlantic. Most favias have been reclassified to dipsastraea, with other species being in astraeosmilia, favites, goniastrea, and other genuses.

The problem is nobody really goes by those names or knows coral by those names yet. I'm still digesting the whole acan reclassification...what a pain.

 

[tadrielobrien]

I definitely see some similarities to what is defined as a "rose coral", but I think i'm leaning towards Favia. The "mouth" is very defined on both heads which I haven't really seen with rose corals. Will these bud off new heads similar to Acan's, or do you need to bissect them to get them to split?

 

[chippwalters]

Looks like it could be a Rose coral. Here's a pic of my healthy Rose coral. I've had it since it was just a dot, hitchhiking on a piece of live Caribbean rock. It's now over an inch in diameter.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Illegal Caribbean corals? Scientific names game... Lol. Jeez.
D