Unknown coral please ID

[rusty]

When I got my rock from AI along with a nice red favia I also received another coral, it does not seem to grow to fast and it is some sort of encrusting coral. A little help with a name would be great It is brown in colour as you can see and has tiny polyps all over.There is algee covering it now but it looked like at one time it covered most of the rock, maybe it will get there again

[Gools]

It maybe a porites, or an encrusing montipora, but I'mgoing to go for my first choice

[Murminator]

I'm going to tag on I have the same things except mine are yellow and seem to have 1 hole (mouth?)

[rusty]

these ones seem to have light green centre of the polyp, you can kind of see that in the picture

[Karin]

It can be very difficult to tell Porites and Montipora apart, particularly when you aren't in the ocean where you can pick up clues from the environment.

Montipora is in the same family (Acroporidae) as those nice branching Acropora corals and other members of the family Poritidae look nothing like the encrusting Porites you probably have here: Goniopora and Alveopora, for example.

If you want to tell Montipora and Porities apart you can't rely on color or tentacles or growth form or any easy clues like that, although Porites usually lack the elaborate papillae and tuberculae (warty growths ) that Montipora often have.

The only way sure to tell is by studying the tiny, round hole called the corallite that is the skeleton of an individual polyp. Hundreds or thousands of these cover your coral; polyps may extend from them at night or even during the day in aquaria. These corallites hold the key to identification.

Inside each round corralite are little dividing walls called septa. (Some corals also have little walls that come out of the holes called costae and walls that go in AND out called septo-costae…). But back to those septa.

The septa often go in cycles - two short, one long – that type of thing. And the family Porites has a unique septal plan. If you look really closely it can look like a wagon wheel but you practically need a magnifying glass.

I’m new to this group (what fun!) and need to find out what AI is. But here’s my guess. You either have a Porites lichen or a Porites asteroides. P. lichen is common as dirt but not found west of Mexico so if it came from over that way forget P. lichen.

P. lichen is a dominant species in lagoons or reef slopes and is usually yellowish-green to brown. It has irregular and variable septal structures. It’s found all over the Indo-Pacific and looks a lot like what I can tell from your picture.

P. asteroides often has a lumpy surface once it gets big and tentacles are often extended during the day. It’s usually bright yellow to dull gray-brown or sometimes greenish, but that’s in the wild (I know nothing about tanks). Its common in all reef environments all over the world including Florida and the Caribbean. P. asteroids also looks a lot like P. branneri, with very neatly spaced corallites. If your coral ends up being really blue or purple you might have one of those, but they’re more rare.

Whatever you have, enjoy it because its very cool and a nice surprise!

[Vagabond]

Now, That's an Entrance

Welcome to the board Karin!

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Hi Karin,

AI is Aquarium Illusions, a pet shop in Edmonton that has a good salt-water section I believe. Can't say for sure since I'm in Burnaby, BC.

Welcome to CanReef, "where the addicts go."

Anthony

[G1GY]

Great first post Karin!

Welcome to the board.

[rusty]

Welcome to the board Karin Thanks for the info

[muck]

Awesome Post Karin!!!
Thanks for that bit of info I can file away for later. (when i need to use it )


Welcome to the board! Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!!