identity crisis!

[deftonead]

that kind of reminded me of the movie... but no crisis involved.

i am looking for some sort of book that will give examples and identify mostly sps corals. im sick of having to post pics and have people tell me what they are because LFS did not know. has anyone read eric bourneman's book? if so tell me if that is any good... i tryed reef pedia but that gives me nothing as to identifing genus.

 

[DaddyJax]

Check out Veron's set of books.
And this is heplful http://whelk.aims.gov.au/coralsearch/coralsearch.php

 

[deftonead]

awesome i am extremely pleased with this website. it was exactly what i was looking for.

 

[ReefArtist]

Remember this is a new hobby only like 20 - 30 years or so. In the 80's we thought corals were suppose to be white- LOL. What I'm saying is that a lot of corals have not been identified or you can't get a positive unless they are dead and are able to look at the structure. Sometimes all you are able to get is the family and not even to the genus level. This at first was very hard for me to understand and it still is for that matter. I like to know everything about my livestock. Where it can from, what to feed it, flow, conditions etc. Here is a list of some of the booksI have and the ones I use the most:

I have volumes 1 - 3 of The reef Aquarium by Julian Sprung and J. Charles Delbeek (Wonderful books)

Reef Invertebrates - Calfo and Fenner(Wonderful book - Binding is terrible)

Aquarium Corals ...Eric Borneman (Wonderful book)

Reef Secrets - Alf Facob Nilsen and Svein A. Fossa (OK - I use my other books more).

I have lots more but they are more specialized (Wrasses, clownfish, etc).

The book for corals that I use the most I'd say is the book by Borneman and the Sprung series.

I've been hoping someone would publish a new series like the Veron series. I've been very tempted in purchasing Verons books but I think it was published in the 90's and lots has happened between that release and now. I still might purchase it . What would be nice I think would be a yearly release of new discoveries. Purchase a series like Verons for a starting point and then have updates to it each year. They do this with freshwater fish (Cichlids, and a few others).

 

[Saliki]

There is also a book set that John at FAOIS uses to ID corals....maybe he can chime in and let you know the names. I do know that they are not cheap ie over 150 dollars for the set. Still doesnt stop me from wanting them though!

 

[ichthyman]

If you want to know the reality of coral identification.

Reticulate Evolution and Sequential Chimeras

Coral biodiversity and evolution: recent molecular contributions

Dr Charlie Veron

Need help! Coral ID? Part I. Taxonomy of stony corals

Taxonomy in the reef aquarium: a simplified guide to basic level identification

Taxonomy in aquarium corals: part 3 â€"œ everything else: soft corals, zoanthids, and corallimorpharians

 

[Sailor_jon]

"Reticulate Evolution and Sequential Chimeras "

Now theres a book title to impress your co-workers ands scare small children with!

 

[ReefArtist]

Oh these are great - thanks John! Christmas, birthday, and forgiveness list for the next 5 years - LOL

 

[Warnberg]

DaddyJax, that web site is awesome accept every search I do returns 794 results... I guess the filters are not working for me.... oh well

 

[ReefArtist]

Here ya go Dave - if that doesn't work just do a serach on Veron in the book section:
http://www.amazon.com/Corals-World-...8237641?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1172847438&sr=1-1

 

[ReefArtist]

Very good articles John, now I'll really have to sit down and read them - I loved Verons footnotes.

 

[ReefArtist]

deftonead - these are very good articles that John posted. I think Borneman's books and articles are very easy to read and relate too. Great photos and just an all round great writer - JMO.

 

[wardworld]

Here's a related quesiton:
Are there identifying books/websites for corals (or other marine species for that matter), that assist with pronunciation of the latin names? I am by no means a "latin dummy," but it would help to have something for assistance so as to not sound so much like a doofus when talking about the respective species.

 

[ReefArtist]

Oh I wish! I have founded a few places that gives some but not all. I'll look them up and report back.

 

[ichthyman]

Corals: A Quick Reference Guide AND Invertebrates: A Quick Reference Guide by Julian Sprung have phonetic examples of commonly referenced animals.

This cite is also helpful, Pronunciation of Biological Latin Including Taxonomic Names .

 

[ReefArtist]

I've found a few on Answers.com - put the word in for the search and on some of the words it has a little speaker button. As long as you have a sound card it works great. I have a few other sites but they are mainly for plants.

 

[wardworld]

great stuff...thanks

 

[deftonead]

thanks john and thanks ReefArtist all these articles are very interesting. verons book is a little pricey so i think im probably going to purchase borneman's book. thanks