JeffDubya
10-09-2007, 12:46 AM
So... I am on a mission. I want to determine what an otherwise unknown species of coral in my SPS prop tank is. Unfortunately, I don’t have much information to go on, and the photos I have taken are just about as good. Sorry, I need a macro lens.
When I originally aquired this species, the person who sold it to me broke a chunk off of a rock. He was trying very hard to keep it intact, with little luck. It pretty much shattered. He told me he didn’t know what it was, but he was told that it was supposedly rare.
I have scoured the Eric Borneman and Julian Sprung corals books. I have come up with nothing. Same for the web. Well, not quite nothing, but pretty darn close.
Here’s what I can tell you. This SPS coral is very much like montipora. So I am totally guessing it is some kind of Acroporidae. Of course, that doesn’t mean much, and eve if I am right, we’re talking about thousands of possible species.
How is it similar? Well... it’s an encrusting coral with extruding polyps. The polyps are much denser and smaller than any montipora I have personal experience with. It grows the same way as montipora, but possibly quicker. it seems to layer itself. What does this mean? I glued a small chunk to a frag disc. The way it is growing now looks almost like the chunk melted. There is clear growth on the disk, but it is very thin. As time goes by, it gets thicker. This may also be a result of the small polyp size.
I also believe that the coral being so brittle is also a result of small polyp size. If you imagine the coral skeleton generated by this thing, the more polyps, the more holes. The more holes, the more porous it is. The more porous, the less structrual integrity there is.
I took five nickel-sized chunks and glued them to a rock. The growth has really been good. the pieces no longer look like they have jagged edges. They have grown out so that the frags are all smooth on the rock and they are quickly moving toward each other. I really believe that within 30-60 days (sooner if I get my calcium reactor up and cooking) all the pieces will have fused together.
Okay, so earlier I said I had found “pretty darn close” to nothing in my research. Here’s what I found...
I found a coral called “Leptoseris mycetoseroides.”
http://www2.aims.gov.au/coralsearch/html/201-300/Species%20pages/228.htm
A lot of the descriptions, of course, are meaninglesss because they are working on the macro, but I am working with the micro. Unless I let this thing grow out for years, I might never see some of the described growth patterns. This photo, however, seems to be have some similarities to me.
http://www2.aims.gov.au/coralsearch/images/201-300/Large/228-05.jpg
Now, I did say this seems to be an encrusting coral. And in this photo, it looks like the coral is more of a plating varitety. However, I have several plating montiporas that, when they run out of something to grow on, they plate outward. Just a thought.
I also saw a coral in the Borneman book.... Pavona clavus, on page 251. The guy I got the coral from agreed that this has some striking similarities.
OK, so let’s talk about my crappy photos.
In unknown-1sm.jpg you can see the rock with all the frags glued to it. Not much good for anything but possibly the color and shape of the coral.
In unknown-2sm.jpg there are two things to look at (you can see the larger colonies in the background) First, in the foreground there is a rock with two additional frags glued to it. You can see how the sides are all nice and rounded off now with new growth. You can also see a good example of what these critters look like with full polyp extension.
In the background is a ceramic frag disc that I glued one little chunk to. You can clearly see the “melted” look of this coral as it grows out onto the disk. Nothing substantial, but growth regardless.
I have larger versions of these photos I am happy to send anyone who feels they can help make a positive ID on this coral.
When I originally aquired this species, the person who sold it to me broke a chunk off of a rock. He was trying very hard to keep it intact, with little luck. It pretty much shattered. He told me he didn’t know what it was, but he was told that it was supposedly rare.
I have scoured the Eric Borneman and Julian Sprung corals books. I have come up with nothing. Same for the web. Well, not quite nothing, but pretty darn close.
Here’s what I can tell you. This SPS coral is very much like montipora. So I am totally guessing it is some kind of Acroporidae. Of course, that doesn’t mean much, and eve if I am right, we’re talking about thousands of possible species.
How is it similar? Well... it’s an encrusting coral with extruding polyps. The polyps are much denser and smaller than any montipora I have personal experience with. It grows the same way as montipora, but possibly quicker. it seems to layer itself. What does this mean? I glued a small chunk to a frag disc. The way it is growing now looks almost like the chunk melted. There is clear growth on the disk, but it is very thin. As time goes by, it gets thicker. This may also be a result of the small polyp size.
I also believe that the coral being so brittle is also a result of small polyp size. If you imagine the coral skeleton generated by this thing, the more polyps, the more holes. The more holes, the more porous it is. The more porous, the less structrual integrity there is.
I took five nickel-sized chunks and glued them to a rock. The growth has really been good. the pieces no longer look like they have jagged edges. They have grown out so that the frags are all smooth on the rock and they are quickly moving toward each other. I really believe that within 30-60 days (sooner if I get my calcium reactor up and cooking) all the pieces will have fused together.
Okay, so earlier I said I had found “pretty darn close” to nothing in my research. Here’s what I found...
I found a coral called “Leptoseris mycetoseroides.”
http://www2.aims.gov.au/coralsearch/html/201-300/Species%20pages/228.htm
A lot of the descriptions, of course, are meaninglesss because they are working on the macro, but I am working with the micro. Unless I let this thing grow out for years, I might never see some of the described growth patterns. This photo, however, seems to be have some similarities to me.
http://www2.aims.gov.au/coralsearch/images/201-300/Large/228-05.jpg
Now, I did say this seems to be an encrusting coral. And in this photo, it looks like the coral is more of a plating varitety. However, I have several plating montiporas that, when they run out of something to grow on, they plate outward. Just a thought.
I also saw a coral in the Borneman book.... Pavona clavus, on page 251. The guy I got the coral from agreed that this has some striking similarities.
OK, so let’s talk about my crappy photos.
In unknown-1sm.jpg you can see the rock with all the frags glued to it. Not much good for anything but possibly the color and shape of the coral.
In unknown-2sm.jpg there are two things to look at (you can see the larger colonies in the background) First, in the foreground there is a rock with two additional frags glued to it. You can see how the sides are all nice and rounded off now with new growth. You can also see a good example of what these critters look like with full polyp extension.
In the background is a ceramic frag disc that I glued one little chunk to. You can clearly see the “melted” look of this coral as it grows out onto the disk. Nothing substantial, but growth regardless.
I have larger versions of these photos I am happy to send anyone who feels they can help make a positive ID on this coral.