signature corals

[cba191]

What is it that constitutes a signature coral? are these cross bred corals? Is it just the person that found it? I'm kind of confused about this part of it.

 

[stephj03]

Generally they come from retailers growing out or coloring up a coral with potential.

The ones they get to look the coolest get named and marked up.

The hobby goes in waves depending on what kinds of wild/Mari pieces and being imported, and what looks the best and or differentiated under popular tank configs (nutrients, lighting, dosing etc).

There are a few advanced hobbyists that are also able to source, or collect and culture promising corals in the same way.

All corals start in the ocean without names, and while it's true that there are only so many color patterns, in the end there are fairly prominent "classic/OG" strains that are uncommon enough that they become recognizable.


Oregon Tort, WD, Cherry Bomb, SCOP are examples of this where the name carries on for years and many ppl can tell what it is based on a decent pic.

On the other end, the markup is what makes coral profitable, so there is pressure on coral retailers to find and name the next big strain. For this reason, a lot of signature corals can be difficult to size up value-wise as they haven't been around long enough to maintain color/growth/health across the hobby.

This is why a lot of named corals experience a big drop off in price or availability after the initial release. A lot of them either don't do well long term in a typical tank, or grow fine but don't maintain strong differentiation (brighter or less common colors) under practical conditions.

In the end, typically the ones with really good colors or growth forms, that live well and grow a bit on the slower side with a little bit of effort, end up sticking around.

Hth

 

[Krux]

The other thing to keep in mind is if someone gets a mariculture piece, odds are good that dozens if not hundreds of other people also got it. Whoever can color it up or convincingly photoshop it fastest usually gets the credit.

 

[thamnasteroid]

What do you mean by "signature corals?" Do you mean like well-known names? That really just has to do with how long the strain/color-morph has been in the hobby and how popular it is. Or do you mean when someone names a coral a "signature coral?" If you're referring to that, then it's just marketing tricks.

 

[Matt L]

“Signature corals” are initially no name coral that (usually) a well known vendor grows out and names. Sometimes the same coral will have many names from different vendors. Usually there is aquaculture involved and signature corals are much hardier than most, depending on the species. But mostly it’s about the reputation of the vendor being represented in the coral. And yeah, lots of markup and hype added for effect.