SPS ID Please

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dodgerblew

dodgerblew

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was sold to me as a Banana Lokani but with Lokani, Suharsonai and Caroliniana looking so similar I'd thought I'd post a pic and hear some opinions and why you think it's what it is. It's a beauty no matter what it is and happy it's in my reef. Thanks in advance and Happy New Year

IMG_3298.JPG
 
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Acropora suharsonoi would be my guess.
 
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greg1786 said:
Agree with tnyr5 +1 for Carolina caroliniana.
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Tahoe61 said:
Acropora suharsonoi would be my guess.
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I appreciate the opinions but I'd like to hear feedback to support your opinions. What criteria are you using to support your opinion. It's so hard to distinguish between some corals and this is a learning experience imo. Funny thing is when I got it the seller told me he bought it as a banana Lokani. Other then color I told him I didn't think so, the branches were pretty thin. The Lokani I have already (2), the branches are much thicker, more rounded and not torpedoe shaped. I thought Suharsonai at first but in looking at Suharsonai colonies many off the new buds are pointed at tips and this one doesn't so I started thinking Caroliniana too but the Caroliniana branches would be thicker I'd think. I know flow plays a great role but might it play enough of a role to actually confuse us on an ID? I love this hobby. Happy New Year! Keep the opinions coming
 
I'm not trying to discount any opinions on ID. Proper ID requires visual observations as well as microscopic examination of the coral skeleton, totaling as many as 30 data points when using Veron's Coral ID software - a tedious procedure! It is quite possible someone has done this, and knows the lineage of your particular coral. In addition, corals can morph into unnatural shapes in aquaria.
 
Deltec
Sorry for the late reply, T'was New Year's Eve ;-).

Dana is absolutely correct, which is why I said "most likely". I could certainly be wrong. I probably should have said "Trade-caroliniana"

I say trade-caroliniana for the following reasons, not all of which have to do with the coral:
- this is a common color morph in the hobby of the maricultured smooth-skin acro that most of us agree upon as caroliniana (we could ALL be wrong, but I digress) and since a lot of "LE" corals are just chopped up maricultures, well...if it walks like a duck...
- it could have been named lokani just to make it seem different
- the few true suharsonoi I've seen are really quite distinctive. You don't easily forget the look of a coral with axial corallites that are as tall as the width of your hand.
- captive growth shape is a terrible indicator, but I have never seen a captive lokani have corallites so "upright".

Again, this all just my speculation and opinion and I could be totally wrong.
Tony
 
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Dana Riddle said:
I'm not trying to discount any opinions on ID. Proper ID requires visual observations as well as microscopic examination of the coral skeleton, totaling as many as 30 data points when using Veron's Coral ID software - a tedious procedure! It is quite possible someone has done this, and knows the lineage of your particular coral. In addition, corals can morph into unnatural shapes in aquaria.
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I'm sure no one has done this on the coral and I'm more interested in seeing how different people have different visual opinions and why they come to the conclusion. I appreciate the post. You didn't offer a guess, would you like to? :)

Art, I see you liked this post. Care to offer up? :)
 
Deltec
dodgerblew said:
I'm sure no one has done this on the coral and I'm more interested in seeing how different people have different visual opinions and why they come to the conclusion. I appreciate the post. You didn't offer a guess, would you like to? :)

Art, I see you liked this post. Care to offer up? :)
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An ID offered so far might be perfectly correct. I'm not trying to discount anyone's opinion on ID, just saying that visual observations without microscopic exams might lead to an incorrect assessment. I think I'd be more comfortable with an ID assigned to a 'group' as defined by Veron. If anyone wants an ID based on Veron's software, I'd be glad to do so if you're willing to mail me a small, non-living frag.
 
tnyr5 said:
Sorry for the late reply, T'was New Year's Eve ;-).

Dana is absolutely correct, which is why I said "most likely". I could certainly be wrong. I probably should have said "Trade-caroliniana"

I say trade-caroliniana for the following reasons, not all of which have to do with the coral:
- this is a common color morph in the hobby of the maricultured smooth-skin acro that most of us agree upon as caroliniana (we could ALL be wrong, but I digress) and since a lot of "LE" corals are just chopped up maricultures, well...if it walks like a duck...
- it could have been named lokani just to make it seem different
- the few true suharsonoi I've seen are really quite distinctive. You don't easily forget the look of a coral with axial corallites that are as tall as the width of your hand.
- captive growth shape is a terrible indicator, but I have never seen a captive lokani have corallites so "upright".

Again, this all just my speculation and opinion and I could be totally wrong.
Tony
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Again, not trying to discount an ID. It is an involved process though and not one that can be done accurately based on a photo.
 
If you really want to know for sure, break off a piece, kill it, bleach it and get a copy of JEN Veron's Corals of the World to compare it to. Even in person, this can be hard and it is even harder over the internet with an over-saturated blue picture. Close ups of the polyps in daylight would be helpful too.
 
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