Crazy Cave Dwelling Leptoseris Survives in Almost Total Darkness

On a recent dive on a deep reef in Indonesia, we noticed a very unique coral under a ledge. It was a very colorful specimen of Leptoseris foliosa with very unusual coloration unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. We had…

NPS Leptoseris Found in Underwater Caves of the Indian Ocean

Leptoseris was once a completely overlooked group of corals in the aquarium world but recent years have seen an explosion of appreciation for these low light corals. Over the years reef builders have come to understand that these plating and encrusting…

Leptoseris incrustans, shows real potential for holy grail

Leptoseris have been a popular aquarium coral for quite some time now. The orange colonies of ‘Leptos’ were among the first of this color in the reef aquarium hobby, followed by the brilliance of the ‘Jack o Lantern’ Leptoseris, ‘Tangerine…

Surprising Growth Rates Found In Deep Water Leptoseris Coral

New research published in the journal Coral Reefs revealed unexpectedly high growth rates for deep water photosynthetic coral. The study measured growth rates of deep water Leptoseris corals in Hawaii and found growth rates between 1in – 0.3in or (25mm – 7.5mm)…

Leptoseris papyracea, the other branching Lepto coral

Leptoseris is a genus of coral that has absolutely blown up in the marine aquarium hobby in the last few years. Notable efforts to collect rare and unusual strains of Leptos, especially by Fox and Worldwide, have led to more…

Delectable colony of red Leptoseris sitting pretty at Unique Corals

You’ve seen orange Leptoseris, you’ve probably seen green Leptoseris, and there’s no way you’ve missed the green-eyed orange Jack-O-Lantern Leptoseris. However this delectable colony of RED Leptoseris is in a league of its own, with the most graceful colony shape and a perfect arc of light…

Mind Blowing Corals’ Leptoseris frags shows the power of intensive culture

Once upon a time there were so few of us reefers that there was an unspoken code that corals were to be given away, shared, traded, but never sold. Well that is ancient history now, mostly, and the American reef…

Pictures of cool cryptic corals from the Flores Sea

When we get corals through the regular distribution channels, we are at the mercy of the coral collectors in Indonesia and the Pacific Ocean as to what corals they collect, and most often these will be known species that are…

Branching Leptoseris gardineri shows up in Sea Dwelling’s Furnace

Branching Leptoseris gardineri is a very unusual species of this now-popular genus which we have drooled over in books and photographs for over a decade. In pictures it seems so delicate and brittle that we long relegated this species to being…

Leptoseris skeletons specialized to double-dip into into available light

The amazing stony coral genus Leptoseris is far from staying out of the spotlight since researchers have just teased out one of its mesophotic tricks. Fort eh longest time scientists including Rich Pyle have worked on projects to investigate how Leptoseris could grow so…