Aquarium Grown Palauastrea has Really Blossomed

Palauastrea is one of the least known SPS coral that is not just rare in the aquarium hobby, but pretty much all but unknown. P. ramosa is in the family Astrocoeniidae which includes some familiar aquarium corals including Pocillopora and Seriatopora and…

Palauastrea ramosa is your weird coral of the week

Palauastrea ramosa is one of those bizzar-o corals that we’ve always wondered about from seeing it in books, and which has never truly enjoyed any kind of exposure in the reef aquarium scene. Thankfully, a few recent trips to the…

Palauastrea ramosa coming to aquarists in the future

Palauastrea ramosa is an interesting small polyp stony coral which despite having a broad geographic distribution is all but unknown in the aquarium. Looking somewhat like a cross between a Montipora digitata and a thick branched bird nest coral, Palauastrea is actually related to Seriatopora, Pocillopora and…

Gingerbread Corals’ Unique ‘Holographic’ Acanthophyllia

There is a clear disconnect between corals that are actually rare, such as Palauastraea or branching Echinopora, and the hype corals that get the likes on social media or command the highest price tags. Case in point is an incredible…

12 of the Rarest Corals We’ve Found on Wild Reefs

The definition of a ‘rare coral’ means very different things depending on who you ask. A rare aquarium coral is not usually a rare species, but a very unique or unusual color or strain that everybody wants, and is often associated…

Revisiting Reef Life Highlights of the Solomon Islands

The Solomon Islands is arguably one of the birthplaces of modern reef aquariums, especially when it comes to injecting the global reefing community with fun and exotic corals. There’s been some chatter about a new marine life pipeline being built…

Stylocoeniella Is A Great Reef Aquarium Coral!

Stylocoeniella is an underrated family of amazing aquarium corals, which, often end up in the aquarium world as a hitchhiker along other corals or live rock. This genus is part of an even more discreet, unheard of family: Astrocoeniidae that…

Stumbling on the Holy Grail of UW Photographer…

Now that we are in Bali, yesterday we decided to go the diving some of the close by, classic eastern cost dive site. We headed to Pandang Bai… This place is quite famous for white sand macro, and we knew…

Some Cryptic And Remarkable Corals From Palau

The reefs of Palau are amongst the healthiest I have ever seen with lush coral growth that varied by habitat, but afforded plenty of cool coral encounters. The semi-enclosed lagoons with very shallow water is where an unusual Montipora could be…

Pictures of cool cryptic corals from the Flores Sea

When we get corals through the regular distribution channels, we are at the mercy of the coral collectors in Indonesia and the Pacific Ocean as to what corals they collect, and most often these will be known species that are…