Will the real Acan Maxima please stand up?

Posted on February 2nd, 2010 by 20

<rant>

Why o why do the majority of coral slinger still insist on calling the Indo-pacific Scolymia australis by the name of a species that comes exclusively from the Middle East? I mean, it’s clear that the corals we are looking at were either collected in Australia, Indonesia or Tonga. When we had this flood of Australian brain corals we had never seen before and were still trying to sort out what was hillae, what is bowerbanki and whatever you call those weird Acan-lobo looking things, it was almost “OK” to throw out some random names as temporary placeholders. It was cute to call a coral “Acan Maxima” back when the Aussie coral hustlers were too busy unpacking and packing the treasure trove of corals from down under. It’s been three years now and we all should have collectively had the time to crack open a book that’s been around for 10 years. Sixty seconds is all it takes to turn to page 27 of the third volume of Corals of the World where you can clearly see that the real Acanthastrea maxima a) looks a lot more like a Lobophyllia and b) it only comes from a narrow strip of Middle Eastern Ocean where corals have never been collected for the aquarium trade. A reef fish vendor would never take the same liberties of identifying a fish with the name of a completely different species, so why do coral pimps do it? Who knows but at this point any coral vendor that is still calling a coral by “Acan Maxima” is either lazy or woefully ignorant. The reef aquarium hobby is a civilized pastime, the information is out there, seek it.

</rant>

Posted in Reef News |
Search More:   • •
 



Top Related Stories:

  • http://www.greenmarine.biz Jim Adelberg

    I agree, and I think anyone selling coral should make the effort to be as accurate as possible.

  • http://www.greenmarine.biz Jim Adelberg

    I agree, and I think anyone selling coral should make the effort to be as accurate as possible.

  • Gresham

    So that’s not a maxima in the picture?

    J/K Jake… You know I agree on this one :P

  • Gresham

    So that’s not a maxima in the picture?

    J/K Jake… You know I agree on this one :P

  • http://www.cherrycorals.com Todd

    Oh, so now we are all coral pimps!

    LOL, Brett has an avatar on another board with an old dude in a plaid suit with the words “coral pimp” under it.

    More appropriate than ever, thanks Jake!

  • http://www.cherrycorals.com Todd

    Oh, so now we are all coral pimps!

    LOL, Brett has an avatar on another board with an old dude in a plaid suit with the words “coral pimp” under it.

    More appropriate than ever, thanks Jake!

  • http://www.seadwelling.com Tim Kelley

    The last scoly like the one above that I placed in the furnace gallery sat for weeks when labeled as a scolymia, I think “Deep Water Scoly” was what it went as. We kept the price and re badged it Acan Maxima and it went out the door in days. We were just discussing the cynarina, scolymia mess in the office this morning. Trade names are slow to change even when hobbyists know the trade name does not line up with them. Unfortunately the vast majority of hobbyists are more interested in continuing their reef education while industry professionals are all to quick to declare they’ve seen it all already, and don’t ever need to open up a book again. My 2 cents.

  • http://www.seadwelling.com Tim Kelley

    The last scoly like the one above that I placed in the furnace gallery sat for weeks when labeled as a scolymia, I think “Deep Water Scoly” was what it went as. We kept the price and re badged it Acan Maxima and it went out the door in days. We were just discussing the cynarina, scolymia mess in the office this morning. Trade names are slow to change even when hobbyists know the trade name does not line up with them. Unfortunately the vast majority of hobbyists are more interested in continuing their reef education while industry professionals are all to quick to declare they’ve seen it all already, and don’t ever need to open up a book again. My 2 cents.

  • Mike

    I agree with Jim, be accurate or state you have no idea rather than making a wild guess based upon shape/size/desire for higher price.

  • Mike

    I agree with Jim, be accurate or state you have no idea rather than making a wild guess based upon shape/size/desire for higher price.

  • J Ciotti

    I wish this had a like button.

  • J Ciotti

    I wish this had a like button.

  • R. Arbayo

    With all the new goodies coming in from Oceania…isn’t is possible that varieties o Acanthastrea Maxima might exist…?…I have a form of “Acan” that is no bigger than a quarter in a group of three that I originally purchased labeled as a “bowerbanki”…which it obviously was not…and yet its morphology is indicates more Acan than Scoly qualities…has serious reconsideration been made in the morphological alpha taxonomy of these Oceania varieties of “Acan maxima”…?

  • R. Arbayo

    With all the new goodies coming in from Oceania…isn’t is possible that varieties o Acanthastrea Maxima might exist…?…I have a form of “Acan” that is no bigger than a quarter in a group of three that I originally purchased labeled as a “bowerbanki”…which it obviously was not…and yet its morphology is indicates more Acan than Scoly qualities…has serious reconsideration been made in the morphological alpha taxonomy of these Oceania varieties of “Acan maxima”…?

  • RandyO

    Well said Jake.

  • RandyO

    Well said Jake.

  • Pingback: Funky new little ‘Mini Scolie’ now coming in from West Australia

  • Pingback: Funky new little ‘Mini Scolie’ now coming in from West Australia | The Depot of Talk

  • Pingback: In your face with Macna’s best Scolymia | The Depot of Talk

  • Pingback: Tokyo Tart Acan Lord from Cherry Corals is your Saturday coral eye candy « Saltwater / Reef « The Depot of Talk