yes you can have big differences in corals from the same parent. water flow, light, food types and quantity, PH, ALK, Ca, ect are not the same in any two tanks and coloration and growth of a coral is a factor of it genetic make up plus its environment.

Steve

Best I could do with what I've got to work with..

http://members.shaw.ca/hobiesailor/t...pleacrotop.jpg

Get some to me. I can brown those up for you in no time flat. :mrgreen: :eek:

Ah Tony you need to tap into the new wave of technology that is "the scuba mask". :razz: But yes I can see the resemblance.

The coral may be A. valida...

Got a link to info?

Google yields a fair number of results. Mostly I am looking at http://www.meerwasserlexikon.de/stei...1045674285.htm, http://www.mtq.qld.gov.au/04research...e/Avalida.html, and http://www.dustindorton.com/work/new...ges/valida.htm, the site of the fellow who identified it as such.

Oh - I thought maybe Borneman had told you or something like that.

That third one looks a little like it. The only thing is (and especially apparent on the other two links) is that it looks like it stays thin and branchy, whereas this one typically hasn't done that, the new growth is thin and branchy but the lower parts end up being one solid piece of coral. Almost similar to a table growth pattern (although it's not a table by any stretch). It actually makes for fragging pieces of older colonies a bit difficult because whereas the new branches are thin and brittle, older branches are stocky and darn near impossible to cut through with side cutters.

Interesting... I think I had seen pictures of A. valida before now that you mention it, and thought that this is a possible ID ... but in the end, anything I decide it to be is just a guess... so "purple acro" works for me. :lol:

Yeah, just a possibility for now. More of a negative ID than a positive ID, ie. it's not A. millipora, A. humilis, A. gemmifera, other common species. The guy who tweaked me to it being A. valida works for ORA, for what it's worth. As per Bornemann's writings, there's no point in pretending it is actually A. valida without having the skeleton analyzed. But it's nice to at least have an idea.