Frogspawn or Cristata Torch? ID please.

[VintageReefer]

Are you speaking of the color variation on the tentacles? Otherwise, these old eyes can't see it......

 

[thamnasteroid]

So I talked with the vendor that sold me the cristata torches and he says they only originate from one region in the Pacific. He didn't say where but I suspect Tonga because I've seen other cristata torches being labeled as "tongan micro torches". So question is, is every torch from Tonga a cristata or are there Euphyllia glabrescens there as well?

Cristata torches have a pretty wide distribution in the West-Pacific; they don't just come from Tonga.

I have a coral sold to me as a natural grafted hammer from a person keeping the parent colony 20 years, so I didn’t argue, but to me it looked like a short torch. Very similar shape and length to the last photo you posted. It didn’t sit right with me that it’s a hammer so I asked for an id here and got mixed answers and many said it was a frammer

That is more likely a hammer, based on coloration and tentacle length.

 

[PharmrJohn]

Ohhhhh! OK. Can't believe I missed that!

 

[Bigfish502]

So a passing snail ticked off the rasta cristata torch enough that I was able to spot some skeletal ridges, does this make it a true cristata?

 

[thamnasteroid]

So a passing snail ticked off the rasta cristata torch enough that I was able to spot some skeletal ridges, does this make it a true cristata?

The septa of cristata are usually more prominent/exert. They will be fully visible through the tentacles when closed-up.

 

[VintageReefer]

This is my natural grafted cristata

 

[thamnasteroid]

This is my natural grafted cristata

More likely a hammer, not a cristata. Coloration isn't right for Euphyllia; green-stalk-purple-acrosphere is more of a Fimbriaphyllia thing. Septa also not exert enough.

 

[VintageReefer]

More likely a hammer, not a cristata. Coloration isn't right for Euphyllia; green-stalk-purple-acrosphere is more of a Fimbriaphyllia thing. Septa also not exert enough.

Well…could be a hammer. I’ve tried to get it ID before. Was told hammer, cristata, frammer.

The frag came from a private collectors tank, he said he’s been growing this for 20 years and every once in a while it grows a head with a color morph - purple and green from the same branch.

It doesn’t look hammer like in person, so I leaned towards cristata. Would be nice to actually know what it is!

And now we see how hard it is to actually find cristata - easy to look close but not be one

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Septa also not exert enough.

Do you mean exsert?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Also, I've never seen a hammer with such prominent (i.e. exsert) septae as this.

 

[VintageReefer]

Also, I've never seen a hammer with such prominent (i.e. exsert) septae as this.

I really don’t think it’s a hammer…I have many of them and have always had hammer in my systems. They don’t look like this when they retract. And they don’t look like this when open

 

[VintageReefer]

Through color out the window.
Neither torches or hammers are blue like this. This is a unique. They both have the same stripe pattern on the mouth area and the two heads are growing with opposite colors. This doesn’t follow the textbooks

If you need more pronounced septae I could annoy it with a turkey baster

 

[thamnasteroid]

Do you mean exsert?

Yeah, you're right

 

[thamnasteroid]

Also, I've never seen a hammer with such prominent (i.e. exsert) septae as this.

The septa of cristata torches are much more exsert than that
Compare:
Euphyllia cristata; Fiji| Credit: Debra Baker

I really don’t think it’s a hammer…I have many of them and have always had hammer in my systems. They don’t look like this when they retract. And they don’t look like this when open

Cristata torch tentacles would he longer than that.
Compare:
Euphyllia cristata; Lakshadweep, India | Credit: Abhishek Jalamabad

Through color out the window.
Neither torches or hammers are blue like this. This is a unique. They both have the same stripe pattern on the mouth area and the two heads are growing with opposite colors. This doesn’t follow the textbooks

If you need more pronounced septae I could annoy it with a turkey baster

The striped patterning around the oral disc is found in both Euphyllia and Fimbriaphyllia; it is not an identifying factor.

The reason the acrospheres aren't flattened is likely because of deformation in captivity.

 

[VintageReefer]

You’re comparing full colonies that had years to develop to a baby frag

Also the septae are well defined. I just didn’t irritate as much as I could have. My torches and hammer don’t show this unless they are severely stressed.

Ill post pics in a year :)

 

[thamnasteroid]

You’re comparing full colonies that had years to develop to a baby frag

Also the septae are well defined. I just didn’t irritate as much as I could have. My torches and hammer don’t show this unless they are severely stressed.

Ill post pics in a year :)

Even when your coral is fully closed, the septa are barely visible. In cristata, septa are visible when partially open (see photo in my reply above)

 

[thamnasteroid]

You’re comparing full colonies that had years to develop to a baby frag

Also the septae are well defined. I just didn’t irritate as much as I could have. My torches and hammer don’t show this unless they are severely stressed.

Ill post pics in a year :)

compare CotW photos:
Euphyllia cristata

Fimbriaphyllia paraancora

 

[VintageReefer]

Looks same to me
Want me to measure the spacing ?

 

[twentyleagues]

Looks same to me
Want me to measure the spacing ?

I would say yours looks more like the top one than the bottom in the skeleton pics above. Yours all poofed up dosnt quite look like the pic in post 54 the top pic you can clearly see the difference if that is how it looks all the time not just slightly po'd atm. Maybe some unknown high bred? How about a Framtata?

 

[VintageReefer]

I would say yours looks more like the top one than the bottom in the skeleton pics above. Yours all poofed up dosnt quite look like the pic in post 54 the top pic you can clearly see the difference if that is how it looks all the time not just slightly po'd atm. Maybe some unknown high bred? How about a Framtata?

Framtata I love it!

It really is a unique piece. It doesn’t remind me of any hammer I’ve encountered. It’s like a short torch but it does show the skeletal ridges at even the most minor of annoyances. My torches retract but don’t do that