<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9652256#post9652256 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TacoKing
Actually, there's a VERY good reason for these to be this expensive. These corals orginate around Austrialia. Australia has very limited (basically no coral exports to the US). These corals are often exported to the philippines with special CITIES permits. Once in the philippines they are rexported under a different CITIES permit to the US. So... Let's figure in some costs here. Air cargo from AUS to philippines is around $6 per kg. That shipment is going to require permits as well. Once in the philippines these corals get exported to LAX or other places.. Requres CITIES permit again and fuel charges are aroud 6-7 per kg from there to LAX...
So, your little coral has now just basically trippled in price before it even hits LAX.