Of all the SPS corals available to us reefers, Porites corals are incredibly under-appreciated, unless they have some fancy Xmas tree worms or colored polyps. We’ve poked fun at the underwhelming appearance of boulder Porites in the past but this colony from Mauritius will take your breath away. Sighted at “Secret Bay” on the West coast of Mauritius, just yesterday we had the pleasure of taking in the beauty of this glorious large colony of purple boulder Porites.
With dozens of boulder-forming species of Porites known, it’s hard to say which species this colony belongs to specifically. But what we can say is that while small softball size colonies of purple Porites can be found around Mauritius, in a field of corals consisting of innumerable Porites boulders in mostly tan, yellow and greenish, this purple colony was the only one spotted in Secret Bay.
The water movement at this spot was unbelievable, wash-you-away strong! In addition to the very strong cross-current that corals experience in this location, surfable crashing waves come pounding down on the corals there falling on them (and us snorkelers) like a ton of bricks. We don’t expect any reefers to be able to replicate this kind of energetic water movement, nor is it a prerequisite for keeping and growing bouldering species of Porites. While it may not be possible to obtain this exact species and color strain of this massive reef-building species, many others can and will become very colorful under aquarium conditions and in the meantime, enjoy this gem of an SPS coral from Mauritius.
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