One of the best parts of working for Reef Builders is when you wake up to private messages containing exciting fish or corals, and today was just one of those days. The animal? Homophyllia australis, aka the Scoly, from Queensland, Australia. The supplier? Coral Supreme, purveyor of many a fine Master Scoly, and these two little gems didn’t disappoint.
“Both of them were collected from Queensland Australia, near Gladstone,” Coral Supreme’s Kevin Lu told Reef Builders. “They are roughly 4.5 cm in diameter. One is more of a traditional pattern ‘master scolymia’ with an extra splash of purple and gold, and the other one is much less settled with its crazy splash of lightning blue stripes which radiate from the center. It’s like hitting the jackpot of scoly twice in a row!”
What we think
I miss Scolies for three main reasons: One, I used to work at a coral wholesaler and they had hundreds of them at any one time. Two, I’ve just set up a modestly sized LPS-only reef tank and am actively searching out LPS, and three, and most importantly, Homophyllia australis is currently on an import restriction for the UK. So no Scolies for me from Queensland, which is where these two beauties are from.
Which is your favorite? I like the Master UFO, (above,) and both feature at least six colors, but for me, the best coral is the one in the main image at the top of the page. The pattern and colors radiating from the mouth are mesmerizing, and it still has some growing to do too. Coral Supreme hasn’t decided on a price yet.
