ID'ing branching soft corals?

[mascencerro]

Is there any 'easy' way to ID soft branching corals?

I see posts here and there of "ID this" and "ID that" with responses such as cladiella, sinularia, kenya tree, etc. How does one tell the difference? I recently bought what I thought was colt (cladiella?) but since have been seeing similar corals ID'd as several different things.

thanks

 

[sharky_steve]

pretty much impossible to do with some of the corals you mention. need a microscope for sclerite examination. "colt" can be cladiella, capnella, litophyton, to name a few, but many species of these genuses can be very difficult to tell apart without a good scope. hence, a lot of stuff just gets thrown under the blanket of "colt"

 

[mascencerro]

i figured as much with the genus, but what about telling the difference between kenya, colt, etc?

 

[mascencerro]

bumpity?

 

[Hormigaquatica]

Bumpity is my new favortie word!

There really isnt a way to tell for most of them, thats why there are so many common names for corals. Even in the scientific community, the majority of soft corals havent been definitivly classified.
If it has large, clearly visible sclerites, there is a reasonable chance that it is a Nephtheid, but that covers a Huge range of genera and species. If it has thin, smooth branches, its usually designated as Sinularia (whether its accurate or not).
Point being.... no way to tell. If you find an easy foolproof way to ID- Publish!