Natural growth vs glued on Alveopora piece

Mflores888 · Aug 23, 2022

Went to the fish store a couple weeks ago. They had just gotten a new shipment of corals from Indo and from the Philippines.

I saw this coral which I assume was a hammer or torch because of the skeleton shape because it wasn't opened and I only glanced at it quickly.

Went back today and and it turns out its actually an alveopora that was growing on the skeleton. Do you guys think this was a natural growth or did someone maybe glue it on. The corals the shop gets are wild but maybe it was aquaculture and glued on a dead LPS?

I just find it interesting as I've never seen or heard of alveoporas growing in this manner. I tried to scrap off the sponge to see if it had glue but it seemed like it was just more sponge or the inner parts of the skeleton

KrisReef · Aug 23, 2022

Looks like a branching coral growth (natural) to me.

Goby Bryant · Aug 23, 2022

+1 natural

Mflores888 · Aug 23, 2022

KrisReef said:
Looks like a branching coral growth (natural) to me.

It's definitely an interesting piece. For $70 it wasn't bad for something I haven't seen before

tbrown · Aug 24, 2022

There are some branching Alveopora. Most tend to grow in the "ball" form that we typically see but lately there have been some branching species available for purchase. Great find! Wanna cut me a frag?

Mflores888 · Aug 24, 2022

tbrown3589 said:
There are some branching Alveopora. Most tend to grow in the "ball" form that we typically see but lately there have been some branching species available for purchase. Great find! Wanna cut me a frag?

I'll ask the guy at the shop if he can get more