This week we got to put a face to the name and meet Reef Builders Contributor and Marine Biologist Sean Ono. Sean likes to dive into Marine Taxa, taking a fresh look at corals available in the hobby, their history,…
Coelastrea, Red-headed Stepchild of the Merulinidae
This article is a guest post by long term coral-taxonomy Liason Joseph Rowlett. His Indo-Pacific corals book is one of the best and newest references to learn more about coral identification. Coelastrea had a troubled entrance into this world. The…
This Mysterious LPS Coral Has Eluded Identification
One of the things that keeps us continually fascinated by aquarium corals, and stony corals in particular, is the challenge of identifying some of the more obscure species. That’s why we were so excited to come across a very unusual…
Homophyllia steals bowerbanki and hillae away from Acanthastrea
Homophyllia bowerbanki is the new name for both corals we once called Acanthastrea hillae and A. bowerbanki. Amid the reshuffling of Micromussa lordhowensis and Australophyllia wilsoni into their new respective categories, the new analysis now places the corals once known…
Australophyllia is the new home of ‘Symphyllia’ wilsoni
Australophyllia wilsoni is the new name for what we currently call Symphyllia wilsoni. We’ve always known that there was something special about Australophyllia wilsoni, from it smorphology, polyp appearance on from where in the world it comes from. Compared to…
Stony coral taxonomy is getting all shook up & straightened out
The notion of discussing stony coral (Scleractinian) taxonomy is probably one that will elicit the blankest of stares. However, if you are hyper passionate about corals, their evolution and especially their relatedness gives us reefers insight to the care requirements,…
The coral tree of life is being rewritten one LPS at a time
Warning: the following is a nerdgasm of coral taxonomy, guest-written by Joe Rowlett, one of the many talented fish geeks working the fish tanks at Old Town Aquarium in Chicago. Historically, corals have often been grouped at the genus and family level based…
