Blastomussa loyae was first described from the Red Sea in 1978 as a separate species from Blastomussa merleti due to the separated walls and ‘irregular voids’ in the corallites of colonies. Blastomussa loyae was first discovered growing in abundance alongside B. merleti but…
LPS Corals
Top 10 new and cool corals of 2011
2011 brought us a ton of new reef fish species and although coral species and new aquairum strains come about at a crawling pace, this year was an exceptionally good one for a broad range of corals of all types.…
This Rainbow Acanthophyllia is one of the nicest we’ve ever seen
The rainbow Acanthophyllia coral we came across this weekend is one of the nicest meat corals we’ve ever seen. We spotted this gorgeous meat coral at Mile High Aquatics in Parker, Colorado and we were impressed at how this coral…
Reef Builders top ten livestock picks of 2010
2010 has been a great year for marine aquarium livestock, with many new corals and rare fish appearing in the marine and reef aquarium hobby. It was hard to make a decision, there was a lot to pick from this…
Australomussa rowleyensis colonies from Timor Indonesia put this coral on the map
Australomussa rowleyensis is not quite a chalice coral, not quite an LPS and although it once was just an unusual curiosity that was sometime spotted in shipments from Indo and Australia, this amazing crop of Australomussa from Timor Indonesia is…
The Enduring Allure of “Chalices”: What’s the Deal?
I don’t know if it’s just one of those things that happens when you get older- you start questioning everything in the hobby: Conventions, norms, and trends are but a few of the things you ponder. I’m not grumpy, believe…
When common corals are Amazing corals
I was at a local coral “chop shopâ€Â a while back (yeah, they exist here in SoCal), perusing the raceways chock full of ½†frags of “LE†corals , when I saw it: A brilliant, neon- green, orange-tinged flash- a…
New corals being exported from East Malaysia, Borneo, just inside the Coral Triangle
Coral lovers should rejoice because the hobby/industry is set to benefit from new coral imports from East Malaysia, on the East coast of the island of Borneo which is just inside the Coral Triangle. The only other two (legal) collection…
Indo-Pacific Scolymia is now officially recognized as Acanthophyllia deshayesiana
You know that coral we’ve been calling Scolymia for all these years? Well it turns out it’s not a Scolymia at all but a member of it’s own genus, Acanthophyllia. There has been confusion surrounding the true taxonomic identity of…