Last week an insane piece of Chalice came up from Indonesia. It’s like nothing we have ever encountered so far. This Unique piece collected by Bali aquarium somewhere in the Java Sea, was quickly snapped by Sea Dwelling Creatures.
The chalice is an Echinophyllia aspera – While the particular species is quite common, it doesn’t come usually in a very wide range of colorations. In the Java sea, we usually see 5 color morphs, the plain red or green, very rarely orange-gold, and the convict that can be either green or red and very seldom a mix of both.
We usually find these at the bottom of reef walls, below 20 m (60feet) of water, in very turbid waters. Due to the configuration of their habitat, they are shaded most of day, and probably receive just few hours of direct exposure, and then through 20 m of seawater.
So we need to remember that direct, intense lighting is not the best thing for chalice corals. We actually keep them without lighting for few days, before we start slowly to expose them to very mild blue LED light (20-30 PAR).
They also can be placed under egg crate to protect them at the beginning. They’re used to have a bit of silt sitting on them, but every few days a good current washes this out.
It’s the second piece in the same lineage we ever found, but this second one is even better.
The first piece went to Unique corals, about 6 months ago, and was already out of this world, 20 years shipping corals out of Indonesia, I had never seen anything like it. I couldn’t imagine finding another piece, anytime soon, even though smaller in size, but even better in coloration
This Ludicrous Chalice is an insane mix of color. Its base is deep Burgundy turning sometime light blue, splashed with dots and lines of Red, Orange and Green. It reminds us of a dripping painting. It’s like Mother Nature remembering us, that she’s is the very essence of Art.
Who ever gets this pieces, I hope it will receive love, grow very well, an will be spread among other hobbyist, so it never dies… It’s so unique! It’s so precious!
Vincent Chalias
