Reef Builders is no stranger to spliced Acropora, but this one came out of British coral farm Signature Frags, and Christian, the owner has an interesting theory about how the splice coloration may have developed:
“So the piece, was an indo import, selego I think, good grower, and then I had a massive bacterial bloom, picked up this pigment infection which then over time stabilized through growth and I aged to take this DaVinci of a frag, and I called it Split Personality!
“It helps to show my theory of stress events promoting natural pigment grafts, once they are isolated and allowed to grow they either stabilize right away and grow at random or you separate and reintroduce again and again until the graft stabilizes and doesn’t take over.”
Price
This piece sold for £750 ($974 USD) with an offer to exclude the first piece from the website, I couldn’t really refuse that, and it will be interesting to watch it grow out for them. Likewise, I look forward to seeing what else this small unassuming colony can produce.
Very interesting! I’ve never heard of abnormal pigments caused by stress or bacterial infection. Be Sure to keep us updated and frag it in the future!