SPS ID

[amashun]

Hi all,

Need some help on this sps id please. I'm leadnig towards to a.millepora. However, one of the reefer said it could belongs to Gemmifera, humillis family. so would like to hear what you think

please let us know if you need more picture to confirm.

Many thanks,
Adrian

 

[Rod Buehler]

humullis or gemmifera is a good bet.

 

[kevinpo]

Hello,
Good pictures. Acropora gemmifera. A. humilis usually has the corallites arranged in rows down the sides like an ear of corn and the axial corallites are more domed shaped.

A. gemmifera likes high water movement and high light often being exposed at low tide in its natural environment (not that I encourage you to perform the later ).

Regards,
Kevin

 

[amashun]

Thanks Guys.

Cheers for the info Kevin, greatly appreciated for ID this. Can i please ask one more question?

I was under an impression that Acropora gemmifera look like this. (this is another colony i have, the tips is more around)

or this should be Acropora monticulosa?


Many thanks,
Adrian

 

[kevinpo]

Hello Adrian,
The second coral picture is not as clearly identifiable but it looks like A. samoensis to me.

In A. gemmifera notice the radial corallites have the oval shape with the extended lower lip (like A. millepora). Your second picture is a great example of that. See Corals Of The World pg. 325 plate7

Cheers,
Kevin

 

[amashun]

Many thanks Kevin. i will see if i could take a better picture tonight when the light is on.

Will also look at the "Corals Of The World".

Cheers,
Adrian

 

[returnofsid]

As Kevin said, Great photos!!! I'm sure more of my corals would easier IDd if I submitted as good of pictures!!!

 

[amashun]

Hi Kevin, sorry for late responds.

Just got the camera around and took a top down shot, hope this is clear enough. (excuse the quality of coz)

I bought this sps like that, half already die off due to bad shipping. but i can see it is starting to encrusting back. Please let me know if more pictures are needed.

Many thanks,
Adrian

 

[kevinpo]

Hello Adrian,
Notice the radial corallites are in rows on the dead branch with the pinkish color. The radial corallites also appear to be of uniform size which would indicate A. monticulosa.

A. gemmifera although is has radial corallites arranged in rows they are of two sizes. In your first picture notice at the base of the branches the larger radial corallites. This would indicate A. gemmifera.

These two Acropora corals are very similar. Also note branch length and thickness can can vary greatly in response to wave action/water flow.

Cheers,
Kevin

 

[amashun]

Great info. thanks Kevin to ID them for me once again, appreciate that.

They are both placed in top section of my tank almost side by side with high flow and lighting, I think they should be OK.

the A. gemmifera in fact starting to kick off and grow pretty fast compare to A.monticulosa. beside, I think that A. monticulosa is actually more delicate coral...

Many thanks,
Adrian

 

[amashun]

Hi Kevin,

Merry Christmas and hope you having a great time.

I have another question with this sps ID as i've been searching many sites and couldn't find something similar. Hoping you could give us some answer. (i still haven't buy the coral of the world yet as OZ money is pretty low right now)

Anyway, when i bought this sps, i though it would be a deep water species (thin and smooth branches, i put it in middle section of my tank and it starts to colour up to pink)

but when it grows more, it starting to confuse me. the grow shape from the tips are completely different to the base. (it is around 2 months old in my tank) Please excuse the quality of pictures again, hope it would be good enough to ID it once again.

Please let us know if there are more pictures needed, i will try to get more

Many thanks,
Adrian

 

[amashun]

i just checked the date when i got it, i think it is around 3 months time in my tank now, sorry can't edit my post.

Cheers,
Adrian

 

[kevinpo]

Hello,
Could you make the polyps withdraw and take a picture? In the wild many Acropora only extend their polyps at night so the daytime pictures of them are with polyps withdrawn. In the home aquarium they can change this behavior and extend their polyps all the time. Their growth forms can also change dramatically in the home aquarium making identification difficult.

Cheers,
Kevin

 

[amashun]

Hi Kevin,

i tried to make it retract but whenever i get the camera ready, the polyps will be out already. This is the best i attempted, please let me know if they are not good enough.

Cheers.

 

[kevinpo]

Hello Adrian,
I'm guessing Acropora kirstyae (see pg. 409 COW plate #4). A tough ID for sure.

Cheers,
Kevin

 

[amashun]

Thanks Kevin, it seems that there are not much info around the net for this one. one of my LFS have the COW book and i'm going to check it out whether it is a good purchase or not (most likely i will buy it because it sounds great to have these info handy). thank you very much to ID this for us, greatly appreciated.

btw, would you say this is a deep water species?

Many thanks,
Adrian

 

[amashun]

Hi Kevin,

would like to ask your opinion about this because i'm not so sure whether i'm correct or not.

When i bough this sps, the seller told me this is "forest fire monti" but once i received it. I believe this is actually a Porities sp.. what do you think?

Cheers,
Adrian

 

[kevinpo]

Hi Adrian,
First off let me say what a great picture and the coral is superb too. It is most likely one of the boulder type encrusting Montipora species. There are several of them that exhibit the contrasting polyp color combinations.

Cheers,
Kevin

 

[amashun]

Thanks Kevin for your compliments!

I'm really confused with this ID because the skeleton does look like Porities sp. but yeah, i would take your words over mine and would be interested to see how it progress later.

thanks for your inputs again Kevin, much appreciated.

Cheers,
Adrian

 

[kevinpo]

Adrian,
It is impossible to tell for sure without magnification and a skeleton so I'm only guessing by what I've seen collected. The only Porites species I've seen with contrasting polyps is P. australiensis. They are collecting quite a few Australian corals at this time so it is possible to be one. Porites is a huge Genus which is very difficult to identify.

Cheers,
Kevin
PS: Most likely a shallow water species found in 3-4 meters.