snorvich wrote:
I now have ordered several Blastomussa from DD, some of which have been Australian, some not. It seems like the Australian Blastomussa Wellsi have a similar structure to Blastomussa Merletti (long almost tubular skeletons). Am I totally confused? Are the Australian Wellsi structural different from Indo Wellsi?
Steve,
Your observations are spot on, and I am surprised that more folks here on RC haven’t conversed about this too much. I can tell you that the characteristics you describe created much confusion when Australia started shipping corals into the United States. Many of these shipments arrived with the proper CITES permits, but were held or seized up by USFW due to incorrect species identification. After several months things were finally sorted out, and now we are seeing this incredible Australian
Blastomussa with more frequency.
Blastomussa wellsi have much larger corallites which are 9-14mm in diameter, compared to
Blastomussa merleti with corallites less than 7mm. The typical growth form of
B. merletti is elongated or tubular columns with the corallites being on the tip. The Typical growth form of Blastomussa wellsi is normally flat and thin plates.
Australia does export the "typical" growth form of the smaller corallite
Blastomussa merleti, as well as
Blastomussa wellsi which both are now more readily available, although both species are very pricy. The issue is that larger diameter corallite
Blastomussa wellsi have a growth form that is identical to
B. merleti with elongated, tubular columns. At first glance these corals appear to be a "hybrid" between the two species, but the diameter of the corallite is the giveaway.
In my personal opinion the growth forms of specific species of corals can be directly attributed to their environment, with water flow being one of the most influential. Australian
Blastomussa wellsi is a prime example of variation among a species.
Cheers!
