What is this Coral?

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by CLINT

is it hard to the touch or soft and slimey?Clint

Thanks for the prompt responses! I have looked upporties in my various reference material, in particular "The Reef Aquarium Vol 1" and it seems like porite is a pretty good fit.

This coral is forming a "sheet" on the LR. Now that I have finally taken a photo of it I will be able to track its growth.

Sprung mentions strong light and good flow as well as relief from algae. Any other suggestions to encourage this coral?

I have not done the touch test to see if it is hard or slimey. What would that tell me?

[Oscar]

The previous photos were taken earlier today wiht the hallide on.

Now only the actinics are on and this is what the coral looks like:

[CLINT]

it just looks more like an acan or micromussa type coral.if it is slimey and seems to shrink it will not be porites IMO.You would only notice individual polyps retract into the hard skeleton when touched if it is porites.Clint

[Myka]

I can see clearly in that last photo (with just the actinics on) with the polyps partially retracted that it is definately Porites.

No way is it Acan or Micro.

[Snappy]

It's not porites, that is actually a variety of Siderastrea sp. which is considered an LPS. They can extend fairly long sweepers at night so give it some room.

[Zoaelite]

Originally Posted by Snappy

It's not porites, that is actually a variety of Siderastrea sp. which is considered an LPS. They can extend fairly long sweepers at night so give it some room.

Its not an acan/micro 100%, I was leaning towards porites but Greg is usually right when it comes to coral ID'ing so I would go with it being a Siderastrea.
Levi

*EDIT*
This is what a Siderastrea Sp. looks like (Thanks to google)

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by Snappy

It's not porites, that is actually a variety of Siderastrea sp. which is considered an LPS. They can extend fairly long sweepers at night so give it some room.

I will have to check it for sweepers some evening, it does not look like it is capable of very long sweepers though.

[Snappy]

Originally Posted by Oscar

I will have to check it for sweepers some evening, it does not look like it is capable of very long sweepers though.

Many corals are deceiving. For example would you think a hammer or frogspawn would look like they do when inflated if you had only first seen them deflated with just their base skeleton showing? Anyway the sweepers on my baseball size Siderastrea extend anywhere from about 2" - 5"

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Snappy

It's not porites, that is actually a variety of Siderastrea sp. which is considered an LPS. They can extend fairly long sweepers at night so give it some room.

I've never even heard of this species...how does it differ from Porites? It looks VERY similar. If this is true (and I doubt it very little), then I bet there are A LOT of misidentified Porites out there!

[untamed]

I also have patches of that on my LR...which makes some sense considering that my rock is Florida aquacultured. I don't know what it is. While still alive at 1 year +, it has not really done well in my system. I've not attempted to target feed it.