Coral Identification

Combs1ng

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Sorry for the overly blue pictures - I'm still trying to figure how to take realistic pictures on my I phone - any ideas appreciated.

Anyway, I bought the attacehd coral because I really liked the conical (barnacle/tunicate) look to the heads. It has a striking green (almost neon) body with almost electric blue/purple polyp mouths (I have a radion XR15). It is quite fleshy and just a really neat looking coral. The pictures do not give the coral's color justice. I also see some fairly long sweeper tentacles at night - about an inch. It readily feeds with its large mouths as well. The LFS didn't have an id on it and thought it was in the favia family. I tend to think so too but I cannot find any favia or favites resembling the completely separated polyp heads. The separation is very distinct, almost creating volcano looking polyps. The closest thing I have been able to find in similar structure are a few cyphastrea types but the coral overall resembles the favia family more readily. I am at a loss and sifting through thousands of pics has got me nowhere.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Coral1.jpg Coral2.jpg Coral3.jpg
 

MaxTremors

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It’s likely either a Goniastrea or Dipsastraea. It’s definitely not a Favites and there are no Favias in the hobby (there are only two Favia species, both are Caribbean, and there is no stony coral collection in the Caribbean). But, brain corals like this can be really difficult to definitively ID.
 
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Combs1ng

Combs1ng

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It’s likely either a Goniastrea or Dipsastraea. It’s definitely not a Favites and there are no Favias in the hobby (there are only two Favia species, both are Caribbean, and there is no stony coral collection in the Caribbean). But, brain corals like this can be really difficult to definitively ID.
ok, thanks. I'm not too familiar with the family of Merulinidae but I will read up on them. What do you mean there are no favias in the hobby, are they all mislabeled? I see countless favia labeled on all the major vendor sites and even in more scientific sites such as Tidal Gardens. I am fairly new at reef keeping so any insight over this would be helpful.
 

MaxTremors

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ok, thanks. I'm not too familiar with the family of Merulinidae but I will read up on them. What do you mean there are no favias in the hobby, are they all mislabeled? I see countless favia labeled on all the major vendor sites and even in more scientific sites such as Tidal Gardens. I am fairly new at reef keeping so any insight over this would be helpful.
There have been a lot of reclassifications over the last decade, but there’s also a lot of mislabeling. And then there are also coral vendors that are aware that they are mislabeling them but continue to do so because that’s what people call them (however incorrect they might be), so it makes searching the website and selling the corals easier. But yes, there are only two species left in the Favia genus, and neither are collected as they are Caribbean species, and no stony corals can be collected from the Caribbean.
 

Reffetsevla

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Unrelated to the coral but this is what you want if you want to reduce the blue in pictures without adjusting your lights, lens filters

1650803659708.png
 
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