Coral Identification

The favia in this picture is proving difficult for me to i.d. because it's difficult to tell the size of the corallites from this picture. I suppose I could use the fungia that are next to the coral to try to guess scale but I have no idea how big or small they are either

Give a look at the favia species listed here and see if any of them look familiar. You can also scroll down further to see better pachyseris pics than the ones posted earlier

CoralSearch Search Results

 

Pachyseris gemmae could be the best approximation though the left pic has more convolutions. The right pic (top right) is not necessarily a bleaching Seriatopora. It's a bit pinkish, but of course there are bleached ones. I agree the pic on the right could be anything else but coral. It looks like a cobra with a red tip like a toungue (a mimicry?). It's oval, about 5 in.

For omard, it would be great to see you. What you've got are mainly pictures from northern Palawan. I took the pics in southern Palawan which is less explored. It would be a good idea to visit in drier months starting Nov. Peak months: April & May.

Thanks!!!

 

Favia Pachyseris case

Hello I provide here the scaled Favia (?) I've sent earlier. As for the Pachyseris link, it was described brown, inconsistent with the white one I sent.

 

Well, that goes to show you what pictures can do. Those polyps are MUCH smaller than they appear to me in that picture. Let me take a look around and see what I can find.

 

I'm starting to think that the "favia" is a blastomussa:


Blastomussa wellsi

Blastomussa merleti

Or an Erythrastrea:

Erythrastrea flabellata

or a Caulestrea

Caulastrea echinulata

This favia resembles yours but the color is wrong:

Favia vietnamensis

Could also be a lobophyllia but the polyps on your coral aren't nearly as big, I think:

Lobophyllia hemprichii

 

I'm getting closer! This is a tough one!

Sandalolitha africana

I'm also thinking that it might be some type of pavona but it's hard to match it up to any of the pics on the web.

 

Hello, again. I was trying to post a reply three times yesterday. Am I limited to a few posts?

Anyway, if this gets through, I think the greatest similarity is that of Lobophyllia hemprichii although the L. hemprichii I see in other photographs appear usually with bigger polyps. Also, the fleshy part covering the central portion of the corallite appears to be a notable characteristic.

 

No limit! ;D - Post away, you are doing great!

(I think the only limit is once every 30 seconds, or something like that. 8)

 

New Aquarium?

Thanks Omar. I visited your site and I enjoyed viewing it. I just had difficulty viewing the video because my computer is slow. It's still a 500 MHz Pentium with a 384 RAM running on Windows 98. :-[ I like the reliability of Win 98. Virus programmers seldom attack it. Yes, I think my inability to post was partly a glitch in my computer.

For amcarrig, I am thinking of compiling all the pictures I have where I get some uncertainty and upload it as pdf? But I saw there's a limit to it. How do I send it then? I really appreciate your help and was even thinking of coming up an identification guide dedicated to the reefs I visited. That will help others who visit the place.

I saw the steps entailed in coming up with a new reef tank by Matt Rogers. Some of the terms are Greek to me and it will cost a lot! Aside from support apparatus/devices are not available here. Well, maybe I'd come up with a locally-made one since anyway I'm in a tropical country. Or maybe that's one extension work I'd do in the community. I know a family taking care of their reefs just adjacent to where they live. They're fishermen who realized the importance of a healthy reef in their lives. They prohibit others from doing nasty in that portion of the sea. And I saw the reefs are doing good. I'd like to document that and share an article.