A Euphyllia glabrescens morph... or something else??

[CapitalO]

I picked this coral up several months ago. When the LFS got it in, it was a large dome shape about 6" diameter. The polyps were very short and it actually looked more like a rock covered in ricordia. The top of the coral started to die off and recede, so they fragged it up and I got a piece.

It's some kind of Euphyllia sp., it looks just like a torch coral but the tentacles are really short and it's a really bright, pale blue color. Also, it doesn't branch like other Euphyllia. It stays really compact and the flesh seems to cover the area between heads, so it doesn't branch apart.

Since its been in my tank, the color has faded slightly and the tentacles have gotten a bit longer. It must be really light loving since its already at the top of my tank under a halide and it seems like it could take a lot more light; I suspect the reason the top heads died at the LFS was due to lack of light too (even under 400w halides..)

I took a few pics of it. Just for reference, the longest tentacles are about 1cm long.

Heres a shot of it slightly retracted during lights up, so you can see a bit of the skeletal structure. Looks just like E. glabrescens.

So is this just a morph or a different species???

 

[acrodave]

Its a torch they have to diff. forms branching and ridge. That one dont look to happy bleached and no polyp extension

 

[Echidna09]

I would guess that the color loss is due to bleaching. I say move it down some.

 

[CapitalO]

Theres no way its bleached, thats its natural color. It may look bleached in the picture, but I assure you that it's not; its a bright teal shade that my camera can't do justice. I have another mature glabrescens in the tank for comparison, trust me, its a whole different beast, not simply bleaching.

 

[CapitalO]

I remember seeing a pic of of a hammer coral that was really similar. I think it was in a TOTM several months back.. I'll try to find it.

 

[Echidna09]

They have wall hammers that grow like that yours instead of branching.

 

[acrodave]

if its not sticky then its not healthy i have one that will fire you up it you touch it and sticks to you

 

[CapitalO]

Echidna: Yea, it is pretty similar to some of the wall hammers structure. Heres a good example, my coral was fragged from a colony that had the same structure as this one, except it was a much lighter white/teal color. This pic is from fishcraze2002's tank.

see bottom left corner

 

[CapitalO]

Yes, I know a healthy coral when I see one. Heres a pic of my other torch that receives the same, if not more, light than the coral in question: