I received a Montipora frag from a guy a couple years ago that looks a lot like the Sunset Montipora. It's grown into a nice colony for me now. I don't have a good picture of it right now.
But here is a pic of when I got it in April 2004
It wasn't much to look at then.
But in just a couple months it looked like this.
Here's my most recent picture of it.
This is from September 05.
Closeup of open polyps
It has grown a lot since those last two pics. It's going right up the back of that tank. I'll have to get some better pics of it. Maybe tonight.
Even though this coral was sold to me as a Montipora, I never thought it was. I always thought it was Astreopora.
More specifically, Astreopora expansa.
Characters: Colonies are flat bifacial plates arranged in tiers or whorls. Corallites are mostly inclined on the colony surface. Coenosteum papillae are fine. Colour: Brown, pink or dark green, usually with pale margins. Similar species: Astreopora myriophthalma on lower reef slopes may become laminar but A. expansa is usually distinctive. Habitat: Shallow reef environments. Abundance: Usually uncommon but conspicuous.
Source reference: Veron (2000). Taxonomic reference: Lamberts (1982). Identification guides: Veron (1986), Nishihira and Veron (1995) (both as A. explanata).
