Coral Identification

[patz07]

Hello Everybody,

I'm from Palawan, located southwest of the Philippines. I joined this forum thinking I could meet some experts on coral reef identification. I have taken some pictures of corals (I'm SCUBA diving) some of which I could not find in my reference. I hope someone could help me identify them while I also would like to offer some help to others on those corals I know. I also intend to have my own saltwater aquarium at home.

I am sending two coral pictures at this point.

[crappyballer]

it looks like the first picture is just rock and i can not make out what the second is. how deep were you diving?

[MDeth]

both SPS i believe

[Jason McKenzie]

Looks like the first one is an encrusting montipora and the second is an Acropora . If I had to guess at what type of Acro I'd say Stoddarti But I could be way off.

What a beautiful part of the world to live and dive. I'm very jealous

J

[Bruce]

Man that must be a blast. I agree mostly with Jason, though depth might be a factor. How deep were you? I could guess 30-40 because of the color but I could also be way off.

[patz07]

Thanks guys for your response. Initially I thought the first picture is Porites, something like Porites rus, a variant maybe. It may look like a rock but everything around there are corals so I discount it as rock. This is a shallow dive (ca. 20-30 feet) and I took the pictures as part of a monitoring protocol. The second one is bushy. I thought it might be Acropora or Anacropora, I'm not sure. Or probably a juvenile Anacropora? The dive site is a highly silted environment (ca. 1m visibility), south side of an island just about a hundred meters from mainland. There are other beautiful corals I have not seen in reference books.

Yes, I actually enjoy diving in the many dive sites here because there are lots of colorful corals and fishes to enjoy although threats due to unsustainable fishing like the use of sodium cyanide is commonplace. I thought somebody said that coral specialist Veron noted that Palawan may have the most diverse growth of corals in the world.

I'll try to get better pictures next time and make some close ups. Or browse my picture collection again to see better resolutions.

Thanks again.

[patz07]

Hello again everyone. I am uploading a clearer picture I hope of the previous coral2 picture in context with some algae. I still have a hard time finding out what it is. Do you think it could be a new species? Also I'm sharing another unidentified colorful faviid coral I am not really sure what species it is. Can you please give me some ideas?

Well, maybe this is the limitation of pictures. A field collection probably would resolve the issue. I will still appreciate though any assistance you may extend.

[amcarrig]

That first picture to me is looking more and more like a type of elkhorn montipora but it's hard to say without a closer look at the corallites.

Montipora hirsuta

[ziggy222]

you may want to look up hydnopora and see.the 2nd really looked like acro.

[omard]

To 3Reef!!!

Glad to see you aboard! You are lucky to have such great diving nearby. Am from the Pacific Northwest, where the water is cold, visibility poor and fish are ugly. No corals to speak of. Envy you.

Setting up a home aquarium would be great fun.

The Tao of Marine Aquaria
Tips for Our Hobby and Life

© 1997 Adam H. Whitlock
Edited By Elizabeth M. Lukan 11/25/00