The ‘Fiji’ Yellow Leather Coral, Sarcophyton elegans

The ‘Fiji’ Yellow Leather is a living conundrum of a coral that is readily available in the hobby, but somehow also seems a little inaccessible. Contrary to most leather corals, there is a consensus that this yellow toadstool coral is…

William Saville-Kent Was A Coral Loving Naturalist From The 1800s

William Saville-Kent As you do when you’re stuck at home, you fall down a rabbit hole on the internet. The story of William Saville-Kent is one such divot we stumbled upon, and oh boy are we happy we did. We…

Cloud Brightening Is Being Tested Over The Great Barrier Reef

Earlier this month we wrote about a recent bleaching event in Australia. This is the third widespread bleaching event in five years, and firsthand account from Ultra Coral Australia, describes this year’s event as the most severe deepwater bleaching they…

Dive Into A Virtual Ocean with Google Earth

After more than a month on dry land, our itch for diving is growing day by day. And with most of our diving plans called off for the foreseeable future, we’re doing everything we can to say connected to the…

Is Acropora convexa the Next Holy Grail Acro?

It’s been a while since we wrote about Australian corals but with all this down time, we finally can find the time to write about things that inspired us in our previous journeys.During our Ultra Coral Australia trips on the…

True Green Elkhorn Montipora Finally Discovered!

When it was first introduced in the early 2000s, the Elkhorn Montipora quickly became one of the fastest growing strains of aquarium corals. This coral grows so fast that within a few years it was no longer welcome in a…

Unusual ‘Raggedy Toadstool’ Leather from Southern Great Barrier Reef

Toadstool leather corals are a distinctive group of aquarium corals which have a lot of diversity at the generic level, but the species are more challenging to distinguish. Even in the wild a Sarcophyton toadstool may be hard to tell…

Who Says Australia Lacks Coral Diversity?

Going diving on a regular basis with the master collector Nic Dos Santos from Ultra Coral Australia, I’ve had the chance to see a nice cross section of the Great Barrier Reef. And if there is one thing I can…

Australia Pink Nephthea is a Soft Coral Jewel

Soft corals don’t get the attention they deserve. Maybe because they are considered beginner corals, maybe because they are not as colorful as hard corals but there are some notable exception to that. Let us guide you through one of…

Is this the ‘True’ Montipora capricornis?

For so many years, we thought we saw Montipora capricornis everywhere. So many people were use that name for just any about any cup-shaped or plating Monti including M. foliosa, M. florida or M. aequituberculata was labelled a ‘Monti Cap’.…