How to recognize a branching hammer BEFORE it branches?

[Peter Houde]

OK, the same 'ol, same 'ol perennial question: is it a branching or a wall hammer?
How can you tell before it branches?
Is the skeleton pleated/striped in both?

Here's a pic of the unknown I got today during acclimation.
Don't be confused by the little fishy thingies above the coral. It's just reflections of the light on the surface.
And don't be confused by the reflection of the coral on the container. It's not another head.

 

[KrisReef]

That’s a tricky one.

Yours is already starting to branch so it isn’t a wall.

Also, walls come in walls but this frag is a stumpy old branch, walls just keep growing lengthwise.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

To add, a wall hammer will have at least one cut end that is obvious. I have a wall that is straight and cut on both ends, I have another that has one cut but is a y shape

 

[Shirak]

Wall hammer. It would have split into two separate round shaped heads long ago if it was branching

 

[thamnasteroid]

In small colonies, branching and wall hammers are mainly differentiated from each other by acrosphere curviness and corallite size.

 

[Peter Houde]

To add, a wall hammer will have at least one cut end that is obvious. I have a wall that is straight and cut on both ends, I have another that has one cut but is a y shape

This is (was) a wall with no cut ends. Of course it died.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

This is (was) a wall with no cut ends. Of course it died.

Sorry to disagree bottom left is the cut

 

[Peter Houde]

In small colonies, branching and wall hammers are mainly differentiated from each other by acrosphere curviness and corallite size.

So, which is which?

 

[Peter Houde]

Sorry to disagree bottom left is the cut

So the outer wall regenerates and the cut disappears?

 

[Cichlid Dad]

So the outer wall regenerates and the cut disappears?

I could very much be wrong, not an expert, just based on how walls grow and are fragged. Do you know the origin of the particular example? I would be curious as to how you can have a cut less frag of a wall hammer.

 

[thamnasteroid]

So, which is which?

Wall hammers have more anchor-like acrospheres and larger corallites.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

This is (was) a wall with no cut ends. Of course it died.

This is a know cut specimen I have owned. Yes when I purchased it it had a fresh cut that is now healed. Middle Left same as yours

 

[Peter Houde]

This is a know cut specimen I have owned. Yes when I purchased it it had a fresh cut that is now healed. Middle Left same as yours

Learn something new everyday. That's why I'm here. Thanks.

 

[Shirak]

Lots of wall hammers come in from collecting off the reefs. They don’t have cut ends.