You’ve seen orange Leptoseris, you’ve probably seen green Leptoseris, and there’s no way you’ve missed the green-eyed orange Jack-O-Lantern Leptoseris. However this delectable colony of RED Leptoseris is in a league of its own, with the most graceful colony shape and a perfect arc of light colored growing tissue around its perimeter.
Rarity is relative but we’ve been seeking various forms, colors and species of Leptoseris since before most reefers could even pronounce Echinophyllia and with our radar piqued, this is only the second ever red Leptoseris we’ve ever come across, and the only fully-formed colony ever. This gorgeous red Leptoseris arrived at Unique Corals from Bali Aquarium and it has settled in quite nicely to a nice, even light field provided by all blue T5 lighting.
When it first arrived this colony quickly started to brown out and decline in health but a experimental dosage of zinc really helped to get this coral, and several other Leptoseris colonies, to retain and even improve their colors in captivity. This beautiful red coloration of this particular Leptoseris became so well defined that even redder streaks have shown themselves through the subtle yet one of a kind color morph.
In terms of species, this colony falls somewhere between a Leptoseris solida with little mounds between the corallites, and Leptoseris foliosa which has the smoothest texture and the flattest shape of all Leptoseris species. We’re leaning towards the latter as the identification for this species but the abundance of embedded barnacles in this wild colony make a confident identification somewhat less than certain.
No matter what the species, we are happy not only to have documented this colony but also witnessed its rebound following importation from the wild. This colony is too special to go to any one person so it will be slated to be cultured by Unique Corals and made available sometime in the future.
