With the Coronation of King Charles III being held in May, Chris Meckley of ACI Aquaculture was in a regal mood when it came to naming his latest batch of homegrown corals. Called the Royal Collection, Chris’ Fimbriaphyllia paraancora family includes a King, a Queen, a Princess, a Prince, and a Lord, all of which he has pampered and served for the past 14 months until they were available in the number and quality befitting of a Royal Collection. But he’s taken a step further too, delving right into their Royal bloodline, their very DNA, in the hope that his investigations produce something even more special than looks alone. For Chris is looking not just for Royal-looking corals – he’s looking for a new species…
Fimbriaphyllia paraancora
ACI imported the five strains of Fimbriaphyllia back in 2021. They are obviously branching and obviously former Euphyllia, (now Fimbriaphyllia,) but Euphyllia collectors will be familiar with the huge variety of tentacle tip shapes that come even within the branching hammer, F.paraancora. Let alone all the “frammer” and variants thereof. All five arrived from Sulawesi in Indonesia as paraancora, but 14 months on, when you compare the round, globular tentacle tips of the King with the slightly more oval, clublike tips of the Queen, the kidney, bean shape of the Prince of Darkness and Princess with the almost hammer, ancora shape of the Lord paraancora, we can see that there may still be more to find out about the Fimbriaphyllia genus, like if it will grow from the five; ancora, paraancora, divisa, paradivisa and yaeyamensis that sit within it right now to more, new species. We even still see huge visual differences in the Torch coral, Euphyllia glabrescens, and Chris thinks the Euphylliidae family may have more secrets to give up yet, and certainly within Fimbriaphyllia.
Electron microscopy
Using an electron microscope, Chris and the nice people at Reef Labs examined a cross-section of some of his Fimbriaphyllia skeletons and found that one out of the three samples they looked at did look distinctly different. Chris will continue on his Fimbriaphyllia journey and if any new species are found, not only will it be a revelation in the reef aquarium world, they just might have some familiar-sounding scientific names too! For now, our favorite member of the ACi Royal Family is of course the multi-colored Princess, (pictured top,) but just like all good corals we find lately, it sold out as soon as it was announced. More will be available in the future.
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