This coral is called the unidentified flying saucer coral partly because we really
have not determined its species or even its genus. The large distinctly colored and
sparse round corallites give the coral a strange 'flying saucer' look. Our best
guess as to what the species and genus might be is either an Acanthastrea rotundoflora
or an Echinomorpha nishihirai. We acquired our fragment of this coral from a private
collector in Texas who specializes in massive and encrusting stony corals. We plan on
offering quite a few more exotic Limited Edition corals from this particular collector.
Reeffarmers was sent a fragment of this coral because the collector was having problems
determining its species and genus. Unfortunately we also are having problems figuring
out just what it might be. The coral appears to be Echinophyllia-like, but has very
large and sparse corallites. The coloration is green with tourquoise blue corallite
centers. This is also some yellow highlights on its surface. The general appearence
of the coral is similar to the recently described genus and species Echinomorpha
nishihirai (Corals of the World Volume 2 page 333). Photograph 5 has the same color
characteristics and same form of the Unidentified Flying Saucer Coral. Veron describes
this coral however as being thin and delicate. Our particular fragment however is not
thin and not delicate. It also has many of the characteristics described for the
species Acanthastrea rotundoflora. That species is defined by Veron (Volume 3 page 20)
as being Echinophyllia-like along its edges with widely spaced corallites. Our coral
has the same coloration as the A. rotundoflora in photograph 3. The general form of its
corallites is similar to those in photograph 2. The surface of our coral has texture
similar to the coral in photograph 6. For now we call the coral unidentified.
Steve Tyree is maintaining a section of this coral for reeffarmers.com in one
of his 125 gallon naturally filtered Tri-Zonal Reef
Aquariums. In Steve's captive reef the coral is positoned to recieve moderate
to weak light under a 400 watt 20,000 K Radium Metal Halide. Price is
currently $75 per small sized fragment. The bimonthly limited edition reservation
schedules can be found below. Please note - This coral was retired in March 2008
because its health declined after fragmentation.
Unidentified Flying Saucer Coral Year 2006 Monthly Limited Edition Schedule
February
Cancelled
April
Cancelled
June
Cancelled
August
Cancelled
October
Cancelled
December
Cancelled
Unidentified Flying Saucer Coral Year 2007 Monthly Limited Edition Schedule
February
Cancelled
April
Cancelled
June
Cancelled
August
Cancelled
October
Cancelled
December
Cancelled
Unidentified Flying Saucer Coral Year 2008 Monthly Limited Edition Schedule
February
Cancelled
April
Cancelled
June
Cancelled
August
Cancelled
October
Cancelled
December
Cancelled
Unidentified Flying Saucer Coral Year 2009 Monthly Limited Edition Schedule
February
Cancelled
April
Cancelled
June
Cancelled
Unidentified Flying Saucer Coral Year 2005 Monthly Limited Edition Schedule
TM
