Coral ID

[bneal]

Found this coral on a piece of rock I picked up from my LFS. It looks kinda like GSP but the polyps don’t seem long enough and the base structure isn’t the typical purple.

 

[tbrown]

It's really hard to see. Is it soft or hard?

 

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It looks almost like a Cactus Pavona. If it starts branching out from encrusting form then I would definitely say it is one.

 

[tbrown]

It looks almost like a Cactus Pavona. If it starts branching out from encrusting form then I would definitely say it is one.

That was my thought as well. The fact that he described it like GSP made me think maybe it was a mat and not a skeleton hence the "hard or soft" question.

 

[Privateye]

Tough to say from the pics, but I'd guess either cactus pavona (I've had those spring out of rocks) or galaxea.

 

[thamnasteroid]

Pavona decussata, not cactus

 

[bneal]

Sorry, I’ve tried to get a better picture but this was the best I could do. The skeletal structure is hard. I looked at the pictures of a galaxea and it looks very similar to this. Thanks for suggestions.

 

[bneal]

I snapped another picture that is a little better.

 

[Privateye]

Much better! I feel comfortable saying it's a pavona. As for the species, I'll leave that to the others.

 

[bneal]

Really? So it will curl over time? I’ve never had one before.