What coral is this?

smartwater101 · Apr 25, 2019

I got this at Reefapalooza LA and its done very well ever since. I thought it was a blue slimmer/stag (is there a difference between slimmer and stag?) Anyway, it was purely deep blue. After a couple of weeks I noticed the edge of each bulge was becoming brightish green. (Its hard to photograph this, but you can see a bit of the green around the encrusting edge) And a few weeks after that the growth-tips started to become purple. (The tiny polyps themselves are all a deep purple.)

It encrusted right away and has been doing great. I'm pretty pleased with the colors its putting out but I have no idea what it even is lol

29bonsaireef · Apr 25, 2019

Looks pretty cool. Think you could get a top down? Might help with ID. It's got the A. Donei look, but it looks close to a few others as well.

smartwater101 · Apr 25, 2019

29bonsaireef said:
Looks pretty cool. Think you could get a top down? Might help with ID. It's got the A. Donei look, but it looks close to a few others as well.

Here is a couple pics with different lighting. Its hard to see, but the polyps are actually in between the nubs and not at the ends of them.

DesertReefT4r · Apr 25, 2019

These are a couple maybes. A. horrida, m. capitata

29bonsaireef · Apr 25, 2019

Nice, some acropora have strange corallites. IMO, it could be A. Donei or A. Kimbeensis? Horrida is not a bad guess either.

smartwater101 · May 2, 2019

All the Acroporas mentioned, have polyps extending from the nubs/extrusions/bumps/tubes/whatever lol

M Capitata seems to be right. Similar shapes and polyp placement. Although... most of pics I'm finding show those "extrusions" to be a bit more bubble like, still pretty similar overall:

joetbs · May 2, 2019

I have a couple pieces of M. capitata and I'd say your piece is definitely an Acropora. Definitely can see axial coralites. The polyps not being out doesn't mean there aren't polyps there.

smartwater101 · May 2, 2019

joetbs said:
I have a couple pieces of M. capitata and I'd say your piece is definitely an Acropora. Definitely can see axial coralites. The polyps not being out doesn't mean there aren't polyps there.

axial corallite! Thank you. I kept calling them nubs lol.

What I mean to say is, in the picture of my coral, the polyps ARE out. (They are deep purple and a little hard to see.) But none of them extrude from a corallite like all the acros mentioned. They are in between those nubs, similar to the m capitata.

Most of the capitata pics I'm finding seem more "bulgy" than mine. And you're right, it looks more like an acro. But I can seem to find any acros that have their polyps in between

Jon Fishman · May 2, 2019

It's a nice looking one.... that's for sure! I love non-named corals, they have turned into my favorites!

joetbs · May 2, 2019

Look through Corals of the World http://www.coralsoftheworld.org/species_factsheets/species_factsheet_summary/acropora-ocellata/

29bonsaireef · May 2, 2019

Yeah it is for sure a species of Acropora. Some have weird Radial corallites that are formed in such a way to protect the polyps from natural predators. The polyps are actually coming from the top of the radial corallite which puts them closer to the body of the coral. I'm sure if this piece begins to really take of you will see a more defined corallite structure.

smartwater101 · Jul 2, 2019

Finally got some decent pics of this. Unfortunately the purple tips are no longer purple

but the rest of the color remains.

I went through Corals Of The World but couldn't quite find the right match. I'm still fascinated by the polyp placement relative to the corallites.

smartwater101 · Jul 2, 2019

Turtlesteve · Jul 2, 2019

It's worth noting that there is generally one polyp per nub, so I think they are corallites but just oddly shaped (looks like they actually recurve back towards the branches). Definitely a nice piece, whatever it is.

Steve