The Purple Stylophora which has recently entered the American reef aquarium hobby is one of the more distinct new SPS strains to become available in years. European aquarists have been enjoying this strain of purple polyp Stylophora pistillata for over a decade. In parts of Europe the purple stylo is known as “Milka” for the purple polyp’s resemblance to the color of Milka chocolate wrappers. We’ve been nearly infatuated with looking for the purple stylo since we first encountered it in France in 2003 where we learned the strain had been in cultivation in Europe for many years prior and it originated from the Monaco Aquarium in France.
It was so great to find out earlier this year that ORA was releasing the purple Stylophora and that it would be distributed throughout the LFS of the U.S. Sanjay must have gotten a piece of it from ORA early and grown the bejeezus out of it because he’s already pimping out this small colony of purple Stylophora which is beginning to look glorious. The yellow tips and delicately purple tentacle tips of this S. pistillata will be a stand out coral in even the largest of reefs. The other cool thing about the Milka Stylois that it is probably as old as the American Green Slimer or Purple Monster acros. Big thanks to Dr. Sanjay Joshi for sharing these beautiful photographs.
