The Lakers Scroll Coral is a popular strain of Turbinaria which is enjoyed by many American reefers for its unique color and for being one of the only “domesticated” strains of Turbinaria that reef aquarists readily recognize. Being so familiar with this coral in captivity made it all that much more special when we encountered a nice large wild colony on the Fluval Sea Flores Expedition.
The mauve-purple body and yellow polyps and growth margins of the Lakers Scroll Turbinaria is just as distinctive on a natural, wild reef as it is in an aquarium. In a sea of tan soft corals, and grey, brown or green stony corals, this large colony of the purple and yellow Turbinaria really stood out, it didn’t hurt that the colony was also about five feet, 1.5m across.
This particular colony of Lakers Scroll Turbinaria was enjoying life on a protected reef within Komodo National Park in very clear water and moderate flow at a depth of about 30 feet, or ten meters. Turbinaria colonies were not particulalry abundant in the habitats we visited in the Flores Sea but most of the sightings seemed to confirm that at least as far as the species Turbinaria reniformis is concerned, a medium level of nutrients, lighting and water flow seemed to be the preferred environmental conditions for this coral, which lines up well with the aquarium conditions that keep this coral looking good and growing well.
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