Tubastrea Sun Tunnel, Gato Island
Tubastrea是一种非光合合成珊瑚，在水族馆中流行，因为它们的蓬松息肉和对饲料的热爱。明亮的橙色，黄色或粉红色的息肉在晚上出来喂食，但如果将它们塞在墙壁下或洞穴内，白天也可以延伸。
We’ve seen clusters of these corals in specially designedNPS biotope tanks,but nothing prepared us for the endless walls of58必威外网 we found while diving in the Philippines.
Lucky our friend BugDreamer joined us for this trip and was able to capture some video clips of this amazing dive site. It was truly a sight to behold and something still photography alone wouldn’t do this site justice.
太阳珊瑚
We always laugh when these polyps are called sun corals because they are quite the opposite. Sure their bright sunny color and shape resemble a sun, but you find them living in the darkest places.
We were blown away at the number of puffy polyp hanging upside down and on every cave wall while diving around Gato Island, Malapascua Philippines. In fact, we asked to go back for a 2nd day just to explore this unique environment.
While in the cave we search for other non-photosynthetic corals but this environment was completely dominated by the orangeTubastrea faulkneri. Check out this classicReef Builders articleto learn how to tell the difference between the two common aquarium sun corals,Tubastraea faulkneri和Tubastraea coccinea.
If you’re looking for someTubastreainspiration, Gato Island Malapascua is the place. And we can only imagine how crazy it would be to dive this site while the corals are spawning!! I guess this is just one more dive to add to the coral spotting bucket list!
