# Coral ID?



## noy (Nov 19, 2012)

uknowncoral by Ngai On, on Flickr

Not sure what this coral is. It was sold to me as a waving hand anthelia but the colour and the polyp shape suggests otherwise. It actually totally pale white - the cyan tinge is an artifact of the colour balance. its covers a rock and the polyps extrude out with out any obvious receptacles.

I thought maybe since its completely white it would be NPS but the way it behaves - i.e. reacting to the light (polyp only open during light) suggests otherwise. Sitting in my non-NPS display right now.


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## noy (Nov 19, 2012)

since i have the camera out - a couple more cool shots

NAFB has some really cool Acans right now.

acan1 by Ngai On, on Flickr

IMG_2734 by Ngai On, on Flickr

IMG_2740 by Ngai On, on Flickr

IMG_2741 by Ngai On, on Flickr


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## Sea MunnKey (Oct 2, 2014)

noy said:


> uknowncoral by Ngai On, on Flickr


Uummm got a frag *noy*?  . I'd be interested  (not the picture but the real coral... lol)

BTW did you acquire any nice NAFB Acans yourself?


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## noy (Nov 19, 2012)

Its encrusted over a rock - kind of like GSP with a thick mat underneath. Seems to receding a bit on the side where the water is flowing against it. This might end up being a pricey piece of rock.

It just might be a bleached out form of anthelia. It is an octocoral.

If it grows out sufficiently - I might get out the saw and cut a few frags. 

As for the Acans I bought a colony (1st shot) and a frag - they have generous frags for 50 and the colonies start at around 250. The pictures really don't do it justice. Another LFS apparently bought a whole bunch of them just before i got there.


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## Sea MunnKey (Oct 2, 2014)

Noy ... appreciate the future frag 

Yeah ... there were some really nice colonies when it first arrived. Pricing is pretty decent IMO. I got my eye on a very large colony but I have no room ...


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## Sea MunnKey (Oct 2, 2014)

Oopps ...

On a side note .... what camera and macro lens are you using for this close up shots? Very nice!


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## noy (Nov 19, 2012)

Sea MunnKey said:


> Oopps ...
> 
> On a side note .... what camera and macro lens are you using for this close up shots? Very nice!


Canon 6d - combo of 100mm/F2.8 and 180mm/F3.6L.


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## Sea MunnKey (Oct 2, 2014)

Nikon for me and no macro lens ...


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## Patwa (Jan 30, 2014)

Hi Noy......looks like your coral might be a bleached heliopora (blue ridge coral). I've had this coral for a long time. Yours looks VERY similar, especially given your description.

One way to test, examine the coral skeleton. You will see a slight bluish tinge the closer you move to the centre......this is due to the high uptake of iodine by the coral.

In a stressed specimen like yours the blue may be very, very faint or non-existent (and why it's bleached)

It's a soft coral that encrusts rock so it appears to be hard. In addition, the polyps retract cleanly into the tissue.

z

PS. if it does turn out to be heliopora, move to a lighted tank ASAP, but slowly increase intensity.


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