Unknown Coral

[Dburr1014]

Now that I see this is from Australian live rock, I take back my Montastraea ID. My second best guess would be Diploastrea heliopora.

IDK, your first guess with Montastraea cavernosa fits so well with the color, growth, ect.

It's gorgeous whatever it is.

 

[VintageReefer]

IDK, your first guess with Montastraea cavernosa fits so well with the color, growth, ect.

It's gorgeous whatever it is.

I never heard of that but when it was first suggested and I looked it up, I agree it looked correct

 

[MaximaLover!]

It doesn't look like anything I've seen in the hobby. My best guess is that it's either some sort of severely deformed Merulinid, or it's a Montastraea cavernosa. How a Montastraea got into the hobby--I don't know. Maybe it was illegally collected or came on some maricultured rock, or it was given to a hobbyist by a scientist.

I also thought it was a Montastraea cavernosa and tried to make sure if they were positive it was from Australia or not and to be honest they had no actual confirmation it was from Australia just word of mouth and I tried to find whatever mushrooms they came with so I could do my own digging but nothing.

 

[MaximaLover!]

Now that I see this is from Australian live rock, I take back my Montastraea ID. My second best guess would be Diploastrea heliopora.

If this is in fact from Australia Diploastrea heliopora is my guess as well.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

IDK, your first guess with Montastraea cavernosa fits so well with the color, growth, ect.

It's gorgeous whatever it is.

I never heard of that but when it was first suggested and I looked it up, I agree it looked correct

To my knowledge, M. cavernosa isn't found in Australian waters; M. curta is, but it doesn't look quite right to me.

For Diploastrea heliopora, the links below may help with determining if that's a good fit or not (they have both pics and info on diagnosing the coral):

Diploastrea Coral, Diploastrea heliopora

www.marinelifephotography.com

Diploastrea helipora | Project Noah

Colonies are dome-shaped with a very even surface and may be up to 2 m high and 7 m in diameter. The skeleton is very dense. he most characteristic feature of Diploastrea heliopora is its corallite wall structure. Walls are not solid but are delineated or formed by the thickened outer ends of...

www.projectnoah.org

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Underwater-photo-in-situ-and-skeleton-features-of-Diploastrea-heliopora-A-the-color-of_fig1_353726192

 

[VintageReefer]

To my knowledge, M. cavernosa isn't found in Australian waters; M. curta is, but it doesn't look quite right to me.

For Diploastrea heliopora, the links below may help with determining if that's a good fit or not (they have both pics and info on diagnosing the coral):

Diploastrea Coral, Diploastrea heliopora

www.marinelifephotography.com

Diploastrea helipora | Project Noah

Colonies are dome-shaped with a very even surface and may be up to 2 m high and 7 m in diameter. The skeleton is very dense. he most characteristic feature of Diploastrea heliopora is its corallite wall structure. Walls are not solid but are delineated or formed by the thickened outer ends of...

www.projectnoah.org

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Underwater-photo-in-situ-and-skeleton-features-of-Diploastrea-heliopora-A-the-color-of_fig1_353726192

The plot thickens! We don’t have confirmation it was actually from Australia. See post 23

What we know is that the original owner bought a frag of mushroom corals on a rock and this was a hitchhiker that grew out and was traded / given to the OP here

However the original owner thinks the mushrooms were of Australian origin but does not have confirmation

 

[MaximaLover!]

Some pictures taken just now with my HG micromusa acan in the picture to compare.

 

[VintageReefer]

Are you feeding it?

 

[1979fishgeek]

Looks like a Lobo and Acan had a love child! Lol
Beautiful!

 

[MaximaLover!]

Are you feeding it?

I feed a mixture of reefroids fritzcoral max and Goniopower mixed together.

 

[MDAquatics]

what an awesome coral. Im super jealous.

 

[stewy14]

anybody know what it is yet? cuz that looks sick! you could sell that for so much maybe!!!

 

[encrustingacro]

IDK, your first guess with Montastraea cavernosa fits so well with the color, growth, ect.

It's gorgeous whatever it is.

Montastraea is a West-Atlantic endemic so it wouldn't occur in Australia.

 

[Outlaw Corals]

I’m stumped but that is a awesome piece

 

[stewy14]

is it fully open?

 

[MaximaLover!]

is it fully open?

This is as open as I ever saw it and it is definitely more open at night as a colony. I will get night shots soon probably tonight.

 

[stewy14]

This is as open as I ever saw it and it is definitely more open at night as a colony. I will get night shots soon probably tonight.

Blasto?

 

[stewy14]

This is as open as I ever saw it and it is definitely more open at night as a colony. I will get night shots soon probably tonight.

Google lens says this

Or favia
Or closed zoas

 

[VintageReefer]

Google lens says this

Or favia
Or closed zoas

Those are acans

This is similar from above but has a bulbous shape
It’s not any of the google lens suggestions

 

[encrustingacro]

This is as open as I ever saw it and it is definitely more open at night as a colony. I will get night shots soon probably tonight.

Yeah, probably Diploastrea based on the septal ridges

Google lens says this

Or favia
Or closed zoas

I wouldn't trust Google Lens or any image recognition AI, as they usually get IDs wrong for corals.

Those are acans

This is similar from above but has a bulbous shape
It’s not any of the google lens suggestions

technically Micromussa