Leptoseris kalayaanensis grows into a plate of spines and spikes

It wouldn’t be a proper week of reef aquarium blogging here on Reef Builders if we didn’t bring your attention to a new exotic species of Leptoseris, L. kalayaanensis. Described in 2009 from the Philippines and subsequently also observed growing in…

Photosynthetic Leptoseris coral found living deeper than 400 feet!!!

Leptoseris is a unique genus of stony corals that is just beginning to enjoy a following by reef aquarists. A team of researchers recently discovered some colonies of Leptoseris on the Great Barrier Reef of Australia growing at depths of…

Leptoseris troglodyta is an azooxanthellate coral adapted to live in caves!

Leptoseris troglodyta is a new species of stony coral which was discovered living in caves of Cebu, Palau and Indonesia. The new Leptoseris troglodyta gets its name from the term ‘troglodyte’ which refers to cave dwelling creatures and it is the…

Orange Leptoseris coral is a perfect storm of color, texture and pattern

Leptoseris coral is probably one of the coolest yet least talked about corals on the stony side of the reef aquarium hobby. There are a few reasons for this, first off this coral is predominantly found in deeper water, so…

Researchers try to understand how fields of Leptoseris can grow at 300 feet deep

We absolutely love all corals in the family Agariciidae which includes Leptoseris, Gardinoseris, Pavona, Agaricia and Psammocora. These corals are hardy, colorful, undemanding in terms of light and flow and they have really neat color and pattern which is unique…

Online Coral ID Workshops Are Back For 2023/24

Do you know your Collines from your Coralla? Your Paliform from your Petaloid or Phaceloid? Your Septa from your Septo Costae? Learn all these hard coral descriptive terms and most importantly, how to identify virtually all Indo-Pacific hard corals to…

We’ve been on a coral ID course. Here’s why you should too.

We’re feeling high on reef life this week, as we’ve just finished a four day BYOGUIDES Online Coral ID workshop with Russell Kelley. As the title suggests, this virtual, live workshop is held by author and science communicator Russel Kelley…

Receiving Two Boxes of Rarities and Oddballs from Ultra Coral Australia

If you want to find the best and most interesting corals in the world you’ve got to cast a wider net, beyond just your LFS or local reefing group online. Aquarium events are one great place to encounter a wide…

Pachyseris speciosa can Grow Tubular Branches Too

When we stumbled across some huge colonies of Echinopora ashmorensis growing like a field of tubes in New Caledonia, we had no inkling that we could encounter this morphology again in a different species of stony coral. Unlike the Echinopora and…

Two companies plead guilty to unlawfully importing corals from Vietnam

Two aquatic companies pleaded guilty this week to federal criminal charges for illegally importing protected live corals from Vietnam, concealing their unlawful activity, and submitting false records with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The United States Attorney’s office…