Coral Id

[Paul_MTS]

Any ideas what this coral is?

When it's closed, it's flat on the rock in a red mat.

 

[SkiFletch]

PROBABLY a Zooanthid. It COULD be a playthoa if when its closed you see dark lines radiating out from the top center of the heads. If you dont see any lines, its a zoo

 

[13thmonkey]

its pretty.

 

[Mr Miagi]

My first impression was Goniopora

Try Goniopora.org for pictures and identification.

 

[Paul_MTS]

ah ha, yes it looks the same as the bottomr right one on the species info page.

I'm not having much luck finding the name for it though.

 

[SkiFletch]

Does it have a stony skeleton or are the polyps connected at the base. Now that you mention it Mr M, it does look like a goniopora, at least in terms of color morph

 

[Paul_MTS]

I don't think it did, when it was closed, the coral was a flat soft red mess on the rock!

 

[Mr Miagi]

Goniopora, when retracted, doesnt show its true skeletal structure. If it was truely "flat" it sounds like Goni to me, but if it had individual "mounds" that form polyps, Ski is probably correct, a Zoa or Paly, but I think its closer to Goniopora myself. Terrific colour. The site I linked to also has information on their general care.

 

[SkiFletch]

agreed, sounds like a goniopora. You're lucky, the red ones are easier to keep alive than the other color morphs

 

[Paul_MTS]

Yep deffinately flat.

Unfortunately it's not mine as I haven't got a marine tank at the moment. It's a picture I took at work. I picked it at the supplierspretty much because it looked good, but they didnt charge us for it so we didn't get the name on the invoice.

Might have to shift it to our display tank instead!