Pavona clavus: A Nerdic Experience!

There are some corals, that can only be appreciated by certain people. They are not colorful, nor grafted, nor multicolor, nor with long tentacles, nor unique… They are just plain brown, and still, they’re amazing. It often takes the power…

ACI introduces the Royal Coral Collection

With the Coronation of King Charles III being held in May, Chris Meckley of ACI Aquaculture was in a regal mood when it came to naming his latest batch of homegrown corals. Called the Royal Collection, Chris’ Fimbriaphyllia paraancora family…

ACI Aquaculture’s Echinophyllia is Absolutely On Fire

The second we saw this Chalice Coral we knew we had to feature it, and when we spoke to industry legend Chris Meckley, owner at ACI, he agreed that it’s a coral that needs further celebration. An Indonesian Echinophyllia, probably…

Meet Nemateleotris lavandula, the Lavender-blushed Dartfish

The 19th century was a golden age for ichthyological exploration. It signified an era of what seemed like an endless slew of new discoveries, where even the most iconic and noble of species we know today were without names. Taxonomists…

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…

Heliopora hiberniana is more common than we thought

Helioporacea is a pretty unique order of Octocorallia (soft corals), which was thought for a very long time to contain only one single species, Heliopora coerulea, the famous Blue Ridge Coral that incorporates copper into its skeleton. This coral is very…

The Mimic Anemone strikes again, this time pretending to be algae!

It’s not the first time we’ve written about the insane anemone, Phyllodiscus semoni, and its crazy ability to disguise itself in its environment, mimicking different species of corals such as Acropora, Porites, Tubipora, Sinularia, Algae, and even other anemones. And…

Grafted Millepora are not as rare as we thought

Grafted corals are the reef aquarium’s holy grail. They demand a high price tag and are highly sort after by many of us. Acropora millepora is the second most popular Acropora after Acropora tenuis, and a good, grafted millepora is…

Isopora is the Most Common Coral You’ve Barely Heard of

During our reef journeys we’ve come across many different kinds of coral reefs dominated by Isopora – a very close relative of the beloved staghorn corals. But some of the shallowest reefs we’ve observed while diving in Bunaken National Park,…

Acropora tenella is a really deep Acro!

Being dyed in the wool Acro nerds there is one species which holds a special place in our hearts, Acropora tenella. We are all familiar with so-called ‘deep water’ Acropora but what we call deep Acropora is basically anything you…