Return of the King – Is The Adonis Zoanthid Back?

I am an avid collector of zoanthids. I have almost all the typical “high ends” prevalent on the market; thus, my attention has turned to the scarce specimens. Zoas such as the ultimate space monster, snow owls, dayglow volcano, OG hallucinations, and the NYRA beast lineup are my kind of style.

I have collected and kept many of these gems over the years and put considerable effort into tracking them down. I have rarely given up on finding an “extinct” strain since I have discovered so many before.

One zoanthid I did give up on ever finding was the ASD Adonis. This zoanthid was released in the mid-2010s and used to be a quintessential collector’s piece – until it disappeared.

I recently found a Zoa that is the closest I have seen to the original ASD Adonis. I recently visited one of my friend’s shops and saw it sitting there – I was dumbfounded at what I saw.

I asked him where he got them – he claimed he had a customer that came in occasionally and always traded them – he had been growing them for years. I informed him of what he had his hands on, and we decided to split the batch to keep the strain backed up.

If this is indeed one of the original ASD Adonis, it has likely morphed under the presence of LED in the last 5+ years. I am now keeping it under halides x T5 x Reefbrite XHO’s. (15k halide, infared and uva/uvb T5’s).

The Adonis is distinct from the GMK due to its face being a deep orange/almost red color compared to the yellow/orange shade of the GMK. Additionally, the Adonis has a conserved black bar going down the center of the face which GMK’s do not conservatively express.

**One of the oldest existing images on the internet from SBB Corals**

Since getting this frag, the primary polyp has begun to look more and more like an Adonis, with the black bar becoming much more pronounced. Additionally, after nearly three months in my care, it is only beginning to form a baby. This slow growth rate acts as additional evidence.

This is the real deal, as GMKs tend to grow rapidly for me, and everyone I have spoken to who used to have the original Adonis claimed it was prolonged. Assuming this turns out to be the real deal, I plan to donate a polyp to the Reef Builders Studio along with many of my other uber-rare zoanthids to create an “ark” to keep them safe for the years to come.

If you have any of the following zoanthids, contact me, as we would like to keep them alive and growing and show them off to the public.

Ultra Rare Zoanthids for the Reef Builders Studio (most all of these are likely extinct, but one can dream)

BigR Bozo’s Bday (not the CK version, which are just renamed LC antimatters)
SBB Valyrian Steel
Snow Owl
Golden Leopard (original strain)
OG Krak’s
OG Hall’s
NYRA Inferno Beast
NYRA Legion Beast
NYRA Ingot Beast
Night Fury
Ultimate Chaos

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Salem Clemens

Salem Clemens has been in the hobby for a decade and has worked in the industry for the last five years. He has worked with numerous fish stores and now farms coral, phytoplankton, and copepods on his own.Salem is in his senior year pursuing a degree in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology with a minor in Chemistry. He is researching coral pathogens, zooxanthella, and holobiont-associated signal transduction pathways. He wants to pursue a doctorate and would like to go into conservation work eventually. His favorite corals are Goniopora and zoanthids, but he has recently fallen in love with Dendronepthya and Scleronepthya. His favorite fish are Blue Chromis and Moray eels.