Millepora or Prostrata?

[swannyson7]

After reading through the SPS eye candy thread I noticed that SDGuy identified a piece as a prostrata, but I thought it was a mille. What's the real difference between the two. I looked at pictures online and there's so many that must be mislabeled that I can't seem to find the difference. Is it the growth pattern or the shape of the coralites? I have a few in my tank that I always thought were milles, but now I'm not so sure. Here's some pictures of the pieces in question...

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[PR_Reefers]

anyone... I would like to know the differences also??

 

[swannyson7]

Glad I'm not the only one that doesn't know the difference. I found something that said the Milles have shorter, thicker branches while the prostratas have long, thin branches. My question is...isn't it all relative? I'd say they all have medium length branches with medium thickness because I have no known variable to compare them to. Maybe they have to be full colonies before you can really identify the species?

 

[swannyson7]

Bump for the afternoon crowd!

 

[SDguy]

Well, personally, I think milles have larger axial coralites, branches that grow in more uniform, ordered directions, and have thicker branches in general.

Acropora prostrata

Acropora millepora

Although, I must admit, I think the second pic in the mille page is a spathulata.

 

[therman]

Veron didn't recognize A. spathulata in his book, so I think it's lumped in with A. millepora.

 

[Troylee]

It has something to do with how tight the coralite structure is.. I believe the prostrata has a tighter one.. Poletti explained it to me one time but I can't remember exactly any more lol...

 

[swannyson7]

Thanks for the links! After looking through the information, I still feel as though I won't be able to tell the difference, but I can act like I know what I'm talking about....

 

[elblond]

Awesome information SDguy. Steve Tyree also have a good explanation about the differences between both of them, "[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=+1]The prostrata species however tends to develop 'thin elongate branches' while the millepora species has 'short uniform branches'." [/SIZE][/FONT]

 

[Reefer831]

I was googling information about this topic and was going to post a question asking about this but stumbled upon this thread… I thought I might as well bump it... Would love to hear everyone's opinions on this topic...

 

[Reefer831]

Anyone?

 

[Big E]

I think the posts by SDguy and elblond above cover it well with respect to growth patterns and branches. It's very difficult to see the difference in the coralites.

 

[Fishlee]

Id say milli