Help with coral ID's
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Leighton79
Aquarium Advice Freak
This makes no sense to me?
thanks guys, this is a response I got on my local forum... trully, it is extraordinarily difficult to get an accurate identification just by looking, especially true of sps. speaking purely to the correct taxonomy of species, and often times even to genus level, takes experienced skeletal analysis. for example, there are literally hundreds of species of plating corals from dozens of different genus, but the vast majority of plating corals available in the hobby get called "monti cap". while the genus Montipora itself may have dozens of plating species, and many more with the potential to become plating species in certain environments, not all of them are the species capricornis, nor are all the genus even Montipora.
there will also be people who use all kinds of common names to describe corals, but these kinds of names are often highly inaccurate and contribute to the mass of confusion that is already out there amongst hobbyists. an example could be "hairy mushroom"... is it a Discosoma, Rhodactis, or maybe some kind of anemone.
then there is the whole "sales hype" saga where people/businesses put names on corals for the sake of profit.
i will say that you have taken some really nice pictures showing lots of detail. the first two really do resemble Montipora. it would be tough to go any further than that on the first picture because it may be a plating coral that is fairly newly fragged and hasnt yet had time to grow out, or it could be a branching species which has just encructed the base and not yet branched out, or maybe it trully is an encrusting species. the second photo could be digitata, which is one of the most commonly imported species of Montipora, but again, it is extraordinarily difficult to tell just by looking. i only mean to give you a place to start if you wish to research it any further.
i think on your third picture, you are correct as far as you have gone, to say an Acropora. the defining characteristic is supposed to be the presence of a terminal corallite... in other words, a polyp at the very tip of each branch. since the photo is taken while handling the coral, i dont see the polyp, but it sure appears to have the corallite at the tip where the polyp emerges from.
for a positive identification, you could snip a frag, preserve it in alcohol, and send it to a university known for marine biology... Texas used to have one of the premiere labs in the country and i really havent kept up with research in several years, but i am sure there are many colleges out there who would be willing to examine and identify your corals.
there will also be people who use all kinds of common names to describe corals, but these kinds of names are often highly inaccurate and contribute to the mass of confusion that is already out there amongst hobbyists. an example could be "hairy mushroom"... is it a Discosoma, Rhodactis, or maybe some kind of anemone.
then there is the whole "sales hype" saga where people/businesses put names on corals for the sake of profit.
i will say that you have taken some really nice pictures showing lots of detail. the first two really do resemble Montipora. it would be tough to go any further than that on the first picture because it may be a plating coral that is fairly newly fragged and hasnt yet had time to grow out, or it could be a branching species which has just encructed the base and not yet branched out, or maybe it trully is an encrusting species. the second photo could be digitata, which is one of the most commonly imported species of Montipora, but again, it is extraordinarily difficult to tell just by looking. i only mean to give you a place to start if you wish to research it any further.
i think on your third picture, you are correct as far as you have gone, to say an Acropora. the defining characteristic is supposed to be the presence of a terminal corallite... in other words, a polyp at the very tip of each branch. since the photo is taken while handling the coral, i dont see the polyp, but it sure appears to have the corallite at the tip where the polyp emerges from.
for a positive identification, you could snip a frag, preserve it in alcohol, and send it to a university known for marine biology... Texas used to have one of the premiere labs in the country and i really havent kept up with research in several years, but i am sure there are many colleges out there who would be willing to examine and identify your corals.
ccCapt
SW 20 & Over Club
That was a very good reply you got from your local forum and I agree with it. I would take a stab at guessing what they are and say the 1st is a montipora. The 2nd is also probably a monti. The 3rd I would guess is a tri color acro - watch that 1 since the base looks like it's starting to bleach.
I believe the university he is talking about is Houston. Eric Borneman was the coral guy down there. I've met him a few times. He definitely knows his stuff, but I don't think he's around anymore. (Google his name)
I believe the university he is talking about is Houston. Eric Borneman was the coral guy down there. I've met him a few times. He definitely knows his stuff, but I don't think he's around anymore. (Google his name)
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