New Pieces

[tomenugen]

 

[arozz7]

Very nice!!! Good luck with them!

 

[Al G Blenny]

Are they both Astreopora?

 

[RandyO]

Sweet pieces. They do look like Astreopora. Watch out for that Echino.

 

[tomenugen]

Hey RandyO,
Are you familiar with these corals? Rarely do I see them and theses two piece were just to nice to past up. The green one has purple polyps and the purple one has blue polyps. Very weird, but nice looking. I will move the echino slightly away. Thanks

 

[fishnerd]

The first one looks like a favia/favites to me but the second one looks along the lines of lepastrea

bryan

 

[FiLM Heo]

Those do not look like a favia/favites or lepastrea but more Astreopora. nice find.

 

[plaereef]

I think they are ok, can I have some?

 

[tomenugen]

Thanks alot. Plaereef, I would have given you a frag, but since they are OK, I will give them to someone that really likes them.

 

[reef-madness2]

i have one of the purple ones i thought it was some kind of sponge.

 

[RandyO]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6599520#post6599520 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tomenugen
Hey RandyO,
Are you familiar with these corals? Rarely do I see them and theses two piece were just to nice to past up. The green one has purple polyps and the purple one has blue polyps. Very weird, but nice looking. I will move the echino slightly away. Thanks

Hey,
I've have a green Astreopora for a few years. It's a round ball just like yours. I've kept it in a few different lighting schemes, but it ended up in my VHO tank. Once they settle in they can get very long polyps. And no matter how I cut it, the frag turns into another ball.

Here's a pic from 2004 of a few frags. The polyps are all withdrawn. It was one big ball and I'm sure each one of those frags turned into a ball.

I'll have to see if I have a pic somewhere with the polyps out.


For a long time, I thought one of my other corals was also an Astreopora. I got it from a guy in MD that said it was sold to him as a Montipora. The polyps looked too long for a Monti, so put it right next to my Astreopora and they looked very similar, only one was plating and one was a big ball.

Here's a pic from September 05

Close-up of polyps

It's a fast grower. It started to grow up that back glass.

I'll try to get a pic of the two of them together.

 

[RandyO]

The round colonies of Astreopora are probably one of these.

Astreopora gracilis

Characters: Colonies are hemispherical. Corallites are immersed to conical or tubular, usually face different directions and are of mixed sizes, giving a chaotic appearance. The coenosteum is covered with papillae that are inclined on the surface. Colour: Pale cream, green or brown. Similar species: Astreopora myriophthalma, which has an orderly arrangement of corallites. Habitat: A wide range of environments, especially in shallow turbid water. Abundance: Sometimes common.

Astreopora myriophthalma

Characters: Colonies are hemispherical, with an even surface. Corallites are evenly spaced and conical with rounded, upright or outwardly directed openings. The coenosteum has outwardly directed papillae. Colour: Cream, brownish blue or yellow, sometimes mottled. Similar species: Astreopora listeri, which is distinguished by its smooth coenosteum and immersed corallites. See also A. gracilis. Habitat: Most reef habitats except very turbid water. Abundance: By far the most common Astreopora.


And I thought my plating piece was this


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.

 

[Ti]

nice

 

[tomenugen]

Thanks for all the info RandyO.

 

[Chaotic Reefer4u]

nice

 

[ri]

Nice pictures!

ri

 

[jero1]

yes,nice pics!

 

[plaereef]

Great info RandyO, Once again you have out done yourself. Keep up the good work.