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[Panzer VI]

Are these two corals Millepora (fire corals)?


Is the green coral in the first photo native to the Gulf of Thailand or the Andaman Sea?


The seller claims that the second coral, the red one, is an Australian red table coral, but it looks much more like Millepora to me. How can we tell the difference between the two?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

#reefsquad

 

[Lasse]

Are these two corals Millepora (fire corals)?

No and maybe yes

There is a genus of fire corals that´s named Millepora These are not true stone corals

But the name millepora is also a part of a name of one species of the stony coral - Acropora millepora

Both of your corals shown in your post can be Acropora millepora - but different variants. However - I know too little about this genus to say that they are Acropora millepora - they may be but I can´t for sure say that they are,

Acropora millepora is found in the whole western Indo-Pacific where it is found in shallow water from the east coast of Africa to the coasts of Japan and Australia including the Gulf of Thailand or the Andaman Sea

Sincerely Lasse

 

[thamnasteroid]

Like @Lasse said, there are Millepora the genus which are fire corals, and Acropora millepora the species which is an entirely different thing. Yours was probably labeled as the latter.

I would like to add though, corals tend to deform heavily under aquarium conditions, so species-level ID is often not possible. This is the case for both of the pictured corals.

In addition, many Acro species have been found to actually be cryptic species complexes, and many of them will be split or broken up in the near future. A. millepora is likely one of these species.

As for location of origin, from what I know, no corals are exported from Thailand or the Andaman Islands. Most corals in the hobby come from Indonesia or Australia, with the rest coming from Pacific Island countries like Fiji or Tonga.

 

[Danjoethepirate]

Are these two corals Millepora (fire corals)?


Is the green coral in the first photo native to the Gulf of Thailand or the Andaman Sea?


The seller claims that the second coral, the red one, is an Australian red table coral, but it looks much more like Millepora to me. How can we tell the difference between the two?

This is absolutely A. Millepora. Not Millepora Spp. I say this with certainty because millepora have no discernable coralites, and yours does. Millepora are not coral but hydrozoans.

 

[mcarroll]

A buddy has Fire Coral growing in one or two tanks and, as @Danjoethepirate said, it's got a very distinct look from true stony corals.