I hate all the "designer names". The corals themselves... well since 95% of corals in the wild are brown, and everybody wants "color"... (brown is a color!), I can understand why the more exceptional color morphs fetch higher prices. Supply/demand. There's a short supply of the really unusual stuff.
Tack a designer name on it - particularly if it has a guru's name attached, ch-ching!
The truth is, for most of the "designer" stuff - unless you can track it through the chain of custody, you are taking it on faith that you are getting an actual piece of the "original" named coral.
I get stuff traded in regularly, plus aquacultured and maricultured stuff. I've almost eliminated wild-harvested stuff completely (and working toward that on the coral end) - people will ask me all the time, "Is that :insert designer name here:?" Most of the time I really don't know because my supplier doesn't really sell on the basis of designer names. Once in a while somebody will trade me something with a "name" so if I take in some Eagle Eyes, I'll mention that's what they are.
I do think the "designer name" aspect has driven prices kind of crazy. If there are 2 similar pieces but one has a "name", it will likely fetch a higher price because of the name in some customer circles.
I chuckle when somebody posts a picture of a zoanthid colony asking what it's called. They are zoanthids. Just because yours are orange, and his are green doesn't make them different as such in their care needs. The brown ones have the same requirements, and they are all zoanthids.
10 years ago this sort of thing didn't exist. Stuff went by a Latin name (and still does), or a common name. The particularly unique or colorful stuff would fetch a higher price simply because of its own merit, not because of a name.
Jenn
