For an LPS coral to be a popular aquarium subject it needs to have color and movement, with Euphyllia and Fimbriaphyllia being classic examples. But this is often to the detriment of other genera and species on sale next to…
Coral
Psychedelic Rainbow Umbrella is the most colorful Discosoma neglecta we’ve seen
Umbrella mushrooms are often green, brown, or mottled and as such aren’t highly coveted by the shroom world, but this specimen displayed by Iwarna Aquafarm in Singapore stopped our scrolling fingers in their tracks. Discosoma neglecta is a corallimorph that…
Captivating Clavularia
If you want a coral that’s both easy to keep and colorful, look no further than the Clove polyps, Clavularia spp. They’ve been in the hobby for decades, but are one of those coral families which have really benefitted from…
Watermelon Chalice is a stunning coral
While diving in North Sulawesi, we came across a fantastic small colony of Oxypora lacera, the Watermelon Chalice. While this color morph is quite common in Australia, it’s quite rare in Indonesia. The perfect red colony color, with a green…
UCA’s latest Bounce Mushroom comes loaded with extra Wow Factor
If there’s one good thing to come out of the modern reef hobby, it’s Bounce mushrooms. Not commonly seen in nature, Rhodactis spp. sometimes swell up select vesicles in a way that we find attractive, and if those vesicles turn…
The Mother of all Cynarina lacrymalis found on the Great Barrier Reef
Ania Nerowski, our own Australian-based coral nerd, has reported to us a fantastic coral that showed up in Australia. Cynarina lacrymalis, the Button Coral, is normally a solitary, monocentric, one polyp, one mouth coral. Double or triple heads sometimes show…
The New Octocorallia: Malacalcyonacea Part 2
In our previous installment of this series, we met with a diverse array of Soft Corals and Gorgonians, including most of the species familiar to aquarists. Amongst these were a hodgepodge of ex-Scleraxonia, ex-Stolonifera, and ex-Alcyonacea genera, now all lumped…
The New Octocorallia: Malacalcyonacea Part 1
In our previous review of octocoral classification, we saw that anywhere from 3–8 orders have traditionally been used to organize this group’s bewildering biodiversity, based on morphological assumptions of increasing complexity within the evolutionary history of these corals. It was…
The New Octocorallia: A Brief Review of Taxonomic Chaos
Soft Corals, Gorgonians, and Sea Pens comprise the Octocorallia, a major branch in the coral tree of life whose 3000+ species come in nearly every shape imaginable. Not surprisingly, this biodiversity has confounded taxonomists for centuries, resulting in no shortage…
CDU’s Gucci Chalice features every color of the rainbow
Think of a Rainbow chalice and you’ll probably picture an Asian Bugatti or Jelly Bean, but the Australian Rainbow Chalices coming out of Queensland display color and patternation on a whole other level. This “Gucci” Chalice collected by Corals Down…