dlandino

I like that you put out a challenge to the other RAddicts here. I went ahead and edited your entry to enlarge the images from the thumbnail-size.

Thanks Marc!

Anyone going to try to guess?

i haven't a clue, to me it looks like a cross between a porites and a Tubastrea lol

Ok, since we have a guess! It was a tough one to find for sure. Not at all common and depending on which sites you read, it seems that it may be endangered or rare. Anyway, its an Oculina Robusa and to me it looks like a cross between a tubestrea as you said and also a milipora. Its pretty cool looking and not at all like anything I have seen in my 7 + years of this obsession of a hobby. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/133533/0

Continued reading has shown this coral to be "mostly non-photo" but I have it under halides and it doesn't seem bothered by the light and it is really extending well. The reason that it is called "mostly NPS" is because some studies show that the coral is seasonal to some degree and may have more or less zooxanthellae depending on the time of year. Super cool in my book! After having it for a little over a week and feeding a myriad of sps additives like phyto and zoo plankton and oyster eggs it has some great coloration once you look past the dark brown color which dominates the coral. The undertones are yellows, oranges and greens at the polyp base, the nematocysts are clear and ribbed with small balls at the ends of each tentacle. All of this rounds the polyps and coloration really nicely making it one of the most interesting corals I have ever kept. I am hoping to be able to grow this out and frag it to my club members who are interested in this offbeat coral. At this point I have no idea how fast a grower it is but I'll keep this thread alive for those interested.

Raises his hand... I'm interested to see how it does in your system.