Hydnophora? Enchiphora?

[Maivortex]

My buddy has this in his tank. What do you think it is?

 

[Hormigaquatica]

Hydnophora.

 

[Maivortex]

A hydnophora with no polyp extension? Hydnophora usually appear "fuzzy"

 

[Maivortex]

Hormigaquatica, my gut tells me you are correct. I was hoping so much that it was a echinophora mammiformis. I have been looking for one for the past year now. Have you ever seen this morphology in in a hydnophora?

 

[HunterBryan]

hydnoporas usually do look fuzzy and they branch out like that! I cant really tell but if it appears to be fuzzy and you can see the little polyps waving then i would say hydno

 

[HunterBryan]

here is my hydnopora! and my fire goby haha

 

[Hormigaquatica]

Hormigaquatica, my gut tells me you are correct. I was hoping so much that it was a echinophora mammiformis. I have been looking for one for the past year now. Have you ever seen this morphology in in a hydnophora?

Yeah, it is one of the more common forms honestly. There are 6 different species of Hydnophora I believe, and there are some pretty different structures among those six. What you have there is likely H. rigida or H. grandis (I would guess H. grandis if I were forced to make a choice).

E. mammiformis is an awesome looking coral, though I've not seen one in person for a good 5 or 6 years at least. It's got similarities to Hydnophora, but they're pretty distinct when you have them side by side. The Echinopora has a 'softer' appearance, with relatively widely spaced and somewhat rounded off polyps. Hydnophora appears much 'sharper' and angular. Hyndo also has distinct skeletal structures called hydnophores that really stand out when compared to Echinopora.

 

[accordsirh22]

hydnophora, we get them in all the time at the store i work at. they look exactly like that, never really seen much/any PE