Scolymia australis/Acanthophyllia deshayesiana question for you, IDs 3/11/11
Hey WWM crew Ryan here. I really try not to email, you all, just read but I'm stumped on an I.D and I went through the Trachyphyllia, open brain, WWM search, lps id pages, the Mussid pages and still came up empty on an I.D. for a couple corals. I am..90% sure they are "scoly's" but, I am not sure what species. I know that skeletal structure is key for proper I.D. so I'm not looking for an exact match, hopefully just a good educated guess in you alls opinion. First off, are Scolymia australis and Acanthophyllia
the same?
<These are two distinct species of Mussids>
I got the red one first, labeled as a, "meat" coral Acanthophyllia and from the "wysiwyg" pictures it looked like Acanthophyllia (I took a chance and placed my first online order, the price was unreal for what they were saying it was. I won't say how much but it was less than 60 bucks) I got it, acclimated it and put in the tank and it started to expand right away and was fully open in less than an hour so I was happy. Two and a half weeks later it still looks excellent. It is big, coloring up nice, it does have a ruffled look to it...didn't give it a second thought as to what it was. I was looking up general "scoly" info just to see if there was anything I didn't catch or was completely new and I ended up on another online coral store that was also selling a "meat" coral, this time a green one. This one was also "wysiwyg" and it looked like Acanthophyllia also and, cheaper than the first one and posted stats were aprox. 4' across. Neither site had pictures of the corals eating, just open but both were very similar, different angles..but very similar. The green one was much brighter than the red one but I read the Acanthophyllia tends to be more of a drab color even though extremely vibrant specimens are out there so I wasn't worried. I figured that I had a regular one and I might have lucked up on a "super" colored one but after adding the green one, I am pretty sure that they are not the same coral. I do believe the green one is a Scolymia australis/Acanthophyllia I can not see the skeleton at all but it has all the characteristics of Acanthophyllia especially when feeding.(included a pic with feeder tentacles out)
Now the red one I'm not sure of.
<Can't tell from the images...>
The skeleton on the second one is about 3-3.5' across so it is a really large piece when expanded. It also has large ridges similar to Cynarina lacrymalis, but they are consistent an bumpy all the way around the coral. I have never seen tentacles on Cynarina lacrymalis and they all look pretty much the same, with the deep groves in the tissue when expanded that make it look...like big bubbles kind of. I thought that maybe it was Scolymia cubensis/lacera but that did not match by what I could find and the feeder tentacles are surrounding the mouth. This has really small tentacles that line the outer rim( you can see the rim looks like a dark line going around the "rim" of the tissue) When feeding, it inflates mainly in he center and the tentacles almost move down, because the inner tissue puffs up so much. (you can somewhat see the difference in the photo of both corals with the green one feeding) Thanks for any help you can offer.
<... please fix your formatting before sending it to us. Bob Fenner>

Coral ID -- Acan? (looks to be'¦) -- 02/03/11
Good Evening,
<<Good Morning!>>
I purchased this coral frag a few months ago and was advised it was an Acan.
<<The photo is too dark hard to discern'¦but this does appear to be an Acan species to me>>
Since I have had it, it does not extend its feeders at night or puff up like I have seen other Acans do.
<<In my experience, Acanthastrea extend their Mesenterial fibers at night mainly when they are placed too closely to other corals'¦and even then, some species are more aggressive/apt to do this than others (e.g. -- echinata species). As for not 'puffing up,' this is likely a result of some environmental element not to its' liking (lighting, water movement, etc.)
Any ideas what this may be if it is not an Acan?
<<Not based on the poor quality of the photo provided, but some other corals sometime confused with Acans are Faviids and War corals>>
I just moved the coral to a less flow area to see if it would make any changes but still no luck. Look forward to your response.
<<The Acan will appreciate strong chaotic water flow as long as it is diffuse (not a strong narrow laminar stream as from a powerhead placed too closely). In my experience, problems with Acans often come from lighting that is too intense so this is something else to evaluate. Do also make sure your water bio-mineral content is in balance>>
Thanks,
Eric
<<Happy to share'¦ Eric Russell>>