<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10157767#post10157767 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by critmin
RandyO, I was just wondering. The "acan. maximas" at atlantis, are those really acan. maximas? If not do you know what they could be?
Atlantis sells primo corals, and I have nothing but respect for them. But...
They have 4 different Acanthastrea maxima on their site right now and they not only look like 4 different species, but they don't even look like the same Genus.
So to answer your question, No. I've yet to see a coral in captivity that deserves to be called Acanthastrea maxima.
As for what they are, that's the real question. No one knows. And when a colorful, large polyp Musside looking coral comes in and no one knows what it is, it's put in the "Maxima" classification. Because that's really the only classification these corals have been put into.
I think a lot of these places don't really believe they have Acanthastrea maxima. They just believe they have the same coral everyone else is calling A. maxima.
It's become very wide spread, and it looks like it's only getting worse.
BTW, Atlantis got those new "maximas" from Australia. A far off place from Oman.