Endangered Coral Photos

[ActiveAngel]

So I got a sneak peak recently at a legally procured endangered coral (used for research)... one coral that many of us would love to have a frag of while this species is still alive.

Nonetheless, I’ll intentionally limit the personal information I provide here; so please understand if I don’t answer certain specific questions. But most of you will know exactly where this is located. I just wanted to share these photos with you! I was so excited to see this!

I’ll leave the discussion below for people to speculate and guess the species, and which one it is... but I don’t think that is too hard.



Any guesses?

 

[ActiveAngel]

And before anyone asks, as my wife did, I was not tempted to take a frag. Lol. I understand the importance of research.

 

[ZapataInc]

I have no clue....lol

 

[hiimsean]

Is it from the Georgia Aquarium? It resembles their trough upstairs above tropical diver where they do have some grow out stuff. I know they collect from the Caribbean during spawning so I’m assuming it’s from there? A Caribbean stag or elk horn?

 

[sharis100]

Hmmm, It shouldn’t be one of the Atlantic Reef endangered corals because those are not supposed to be mixed with other region corals and I see Duncan’s and other species in the tank.

 

[ActiveAngel]

A Caribbean stag or elk horn?

 

[hiimsean]

Lol which one then

 

[ActiveAngel]

Lol, both Y’all can see the photos right?

Honestly, I’m surprised that nobody here is as excited as I am. And also that no-one recognized the elkhorn. It took me all but 1 second to find this guy amongst all the other tanks and corals. But I’m weird I guess.

 

[hiimsean]

Lol I thought it was the elk horn because I knew they cultivated it in the Caribbean about 2-3 years back and we’re having success with it. Wasn’t 100% on the stag

 

[Patrick.Barnett]

I remember seeing elkhorn covering reefs in the keys when I was a kid. I haven’t been underwater there in years. I’m sure I would be devastated.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[steve h]

Hi Everyone, this propagation system includes some elkhorn pieces (Acropora palmata) that originate from the 2009 coral spawn spawn near Rincon Puerto Rico as part of project Secore. They are for display purposes only from a time when the spawning and rearing process was not fully understood. Because of this they can be mixed with corals from various regions. That particular project has since moved to mostly in situ rearing then subsequent outplanting nearby. The staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) is in a different system that focuses on that species. The florida reef tract corals that will hopefully be returned to the ocean someday are located in separate regionally specific systems and have much higher bio security requirements because of the goal of that project.

 

[gill]

Very cool, thanks for sharing!

 

[ActiveAngel]

Thanks Steve! As always, you’ve been great!