"Acans" listed as "not Indo." Hmmm… that's odd. What does "not Indo" really mean? It begs the questions of where they came from, and why not tell us? If it was simply some other legal exporting country, then why not say so? Or is there some not-so-coincidental correlation to the formerly touted Japanese Acanthastrea that "disappeared" when the rumor got around that law enforcement was looking for poachers? Apparently, a number of corals were illegally exported from Japan under other names (Favites chinensis and Goniatsrea pectinata) that were indeed Acanthastrea. Because of the huge sums of money involved in this confiscated collection and continued plans to continue the illegal profit-making venture, investigations are currently underway (Borneman pers. comms). It seems the conspiracy now extends back to the countries of origin where some traders are getting quite rich while collectors still get a few pennies for collecting the same "closed brain corals" they always have been collecting. Not surprisingly, poachers have continued to bring in shipments of illegally obtained specimens under such guises as Blastomussa. The smuggled corals are so profitable that it is worth using couriers to carry small quantities from Japan among personal belongings! So the marketing game has now changed, and some of those "Acans" labeled as "not-Indo" do look remarkably similar to those Japanese "Acans" offered previously. Again, it does beg the question.
