White sun coral

no white sun corals as far as i know, but it could be a white cup coral.
look up Astrangia poculata, for example...
 
This is what I am referring to... These are images off google not something I personally have.
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1439444367.608985.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1439444375.877618.jpg

I have seen both of these images called white sun corals but I figured I would ask the pros as my google search has lead me to absolutely nothing substantial.
 
Sun corals / Cup Corals are popular generic names used to describe dendro/tubastraea like corals. Sometime we attach a colour to describe the coral more fully but colour (for the most part) is not a unique species characteristics. You can have orange, yellow and even reddish tubastraea coccinea. Foods/ph/water chemistry and temperature (or even genetics) may be reasons for colour differences.

There are over 70 species in the dendrophyllia genus - most of which I'm sure we haven't seen in the trade. So there definitely can be white "sun corals".

The 2 photos you posted - the one on the left looks like a white variety of an arbuscula (could even be an altogether difference species) and the one on the right looks like it could be a variety of the many japanese sun corals - (hardly traded here) or even a balanophyllia sp.
 
noy said:
Sun corals / Cup Corals are popular generic names used to describe dendro/tubastraea like corals. Sometime we attach a colour to describe the coral more fully but colour (for the most part) is not a unique species characteristics. You can have orange, yellow and even reddish tubastraea coccinea. Foods/ph/water chemistry and temperature (or even genetics) may be reasons for colour differences.

There are over 70 species in the dendrophyllia genus - most of which I'm sure we haven't seen in the trade. So there definitely can be white "sun corals".

The 2 photos you posted - the one on the left looks like a white variety of an arbuscula (could even be an altogether difference species) and the one on the right looks like it could be a variety of the many japanese sun corals - (hardly traded here) or even a balanophyllia sp.
Click to expand...


Noy- thank you so much I can't thank you enough for your detailed explanation! I recently purchased what I was told repetitively was a sun coral, it looks so much like the second picture that it's unbelievable, I wish I could get a better image of it. I am so in love with the this piece and it is in my personality to want to know everything I can about things that I'm interested in. I have posted several threads and gotten several answers. I like to be educated about things and this is the best response I have received anywhere! Thank you again for taking the time to explain it to me!!!
 
Yearssss ago I actually had a "white" tubastrea baby. I gave a frag to someone on another site just in case I lost my mini colony (which I did) and lost contact with the person I gave the baby frag too. I'll try and look on my old computer for pics to post.
 
Advanced aquarist has a great article on sun corals which includes pics of different species. A related species of deepwater coral is solid white - stunning.
 
rt67ghy said:
I don't know what happened but I'm trying again.

http://imgur.com/FmxOK9w
Click to expand...

I can't tell fully from the shot but the picture is showing a soft body and its attaching to the rock not with a calcium carbonate skeleton. It looks like a majano anemone or something in the corynactis/pseudocorynactis genus.

If it doesn't have a hard skeleton underneath (observe it when it fully retracts) - then its probably not a dendrophyllia/tubastraea coral.
 
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