Homophyllia might have taken over as the name for Scolymia but that doesn’t mean we’ve lost any love for the ‘Australis’ doughnut coral. Hundreds of these corals are exported from Australia every week, and by and large, every single one of them is a really beautiful Scleractinian.
Only a fraction of these are worthy enough of being the best of the best, whether it’s a bleeding apple, warpaint or UFO Homophyllia. The two corallites in focus today from World Wide Corals are even more exceptional than your typical master or UFO Homophyllia.
The color and pattern of Homophyllia australis is so random, who knows what determines the color and appearance of these corals for them to become so striking and colorful. But there’s no doubt that the tiger Homophyllia above, and the UFO-Master-Spirograph Homophyllia below are about as good as it can possibly get.
One of them has incredibly bold stripes, a deep mauve purple on a lime green base with a few red streaks for accent. And the other exhibits virtually every color, ring, stripe and streak that can possibly occur in a Homophyllia – the combination of a black ring, white splotches and interspersed red spokes gives our eyes an incredible bullseye to look at.
What we particularly love about Homophyllias like these is that you don’t need a macro photograph to appreciate them, and they don’t have to be under juiced-up blue lighting for the fluorescence to shine through. Whether you have a 1000 gallon tank with the most flattering light color, or a simple nano tank with a basic broad spectrum light, these are two of the nicest Homophyllias that we are likely to enjoy this year.
