Plesiastrea versiporais a very unique and unique-looking coral which is widespread in the Indo-Pacific Ocean. There is only one other species in the genusPlesiastrea, P. devantieribut likeAcanthastrea maxima,that species only comes from the Red Sea and surrounding waters.Plesiastreahas small corallites for a Faviid, just a wee bit bigger than mostCyphastreaspecies and it usually grows flat or semi lobed. The few colonies ofPlesiastreawe we have come across all exhibited interesting and sometimes amazing coloration, unique among moon brains, and this colony of yellow and redPlesiastrea versiporais no exception.
Unless you’re looking for it, aPlesiastreacoral will most often be misidentified as aCyphastrea,as Mr. Limited Edition Coral himself has done with the incrediblePlesiastrea versiporaabove that he calls the ‘地狱Cyphastrea‘. The yellow and redPlesiastreacolony was imported byOculus Aquaticswhere staff assigned this colony for propagation. Even without knowing exactly what it is,the InfernoPlesiastreais clearly not your average small polyped moon coral.
Compare the Plesiastrea to two other coral strains which have been grown in captivity for a little while, the PPE Chalice and Copperhead Cyphastrea. The PPE Chalice is believed to be aPlesiastreasince the original colony had a flat shape with semi-crowded corallites and a very unusual color pallette. Grown out frags of the PPE Chalice take on an even more un-Cyphastrealike appearance.
By contrast, World Wide Corals’ Copperhead Cyphastrea shares a similar color with Reef Farmers’ Inferno, but it has much more exert and conically shaped corallites, as would be expected of a good card-carrying specimen of the much more common genus of Faviids.
没有什么比看到一个更让我们滚的眼睛fairly common, abundant and unremarkable coral get earmarked for ‘Limited Edition’ stature (see thePoritesparodyhere). However in the case of the Inferno, we really have a thing for the seldom-seenPlesiastrea versiporaas a coral and a species – this actually may be a case where the coral collectors may have under-appreciated what kind of stony coral they have on their hands.
