TM

Limited Edition
Montastrea curta
Upscales Dragons Eye


Montastrea curta Dragons Eye Upscales 7 year old Initial Colony August 20th 2005
Image Copyright © 2005 by Reeffarmers All Rights Reserved.

While on a trip to Portland to make a presentation to the Pacific Northwest Marine Aquarium Society, Steve Tyree went on some coral hunting side trips and made a visit to the Portland area Reef Store Upscales. www.upscales.com Steve was shown the stores two main reefs by Travis Heidt. There were numerous exotic stony coral colonies and many were rare.

In one of the reefs Steve spotted an incredibly colorful coral that Travis had kept and grown for 7 years. The coral was originally exported from Jakarta Indonesia. Its initially appears as a Favia type brain coral that possesses an incredible coloration pattern. After a few minutes of observation Steve believed it to be a Montastrea curta. Travis also thought the coral was a M. curta.

The coral has a very unique concentric ring coloration pattern. The corallite centers are deep red which changes to bright orange in a middle concentric ring. The outer edge of the corallite has a unique spotted cream white coloration. The corallite mouths are pink. These patterns give the coral a very striking appearence. Montastrea curta can be found in the book Corals of the World Volume 3 Page 216. The concentric ring pattern can also be seen in the Montastrea curta pictured in Corals of Australia and the Indo-Pacific page 504 Image 1. Another possibility is that this could be a Barabattoia amicorum (Corals of the World Volume 3 Page 133). Travis Heidt has named this coral the 'Dragons Eye' due to its unique concentric ring coloration (see image below).

Steve Tyree is maintaining a farmed 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 light under a 400 watt 20,000 K Radium Metal Halide. Travis believes the coral requires weak currents and moderate to low light. The price is currently $70 per small sized fragment. Each fragment will consist of one adult corallite 10 to 15 mm in diameter.

Please note Reeffarmers is no longer taking new reservations for new corals. The current economic conditions are not supportive for reservations that extend for a few years into the future. After this first edition is distributed, we will sell future captive produced fragments on either our Buy It Now page or via another silent auction. We will still list exotic corals as Limited Editions and will continue to build web pages for them.


Montastrea curta Dragons Eye Reeffarmers Main Seed Colony Closeup
August 26th 2005 Note the 'Dragons Eye' appearence
Image Copyright © 2005 by Reeffarmers All Rights Reserved.

Second Edition Auction November 2005 !
Montastrea curta Dragons Eye Actual Fragment Image of the November Second Edition AE fragment. This single polyp Eye is Fully Expanded with Slight Polyp Extension. Top View Through Water.
Image Copyright © 2005 by Reeffarmers All Rights Reserved.
Montastrea curta Dragons Eye Actual Fragment Image of the November Second Edition AE fragment. Note how the fluorescent Pink Pigments Cover more of the Upper Surface. Side View Through Glass.
Image Copyright © 2005 by Reeffarmers All Rights Reserved.

Montastrea curta Dragons Eye Year 2008 Old Auctioned Edition Schedule

March
Auction
Sixth Edition Auction sold for $88.00 through CFM Auctions
June
Auction
Seventh Edition Sold in private sale
September
Auction
Eighth Edition sold at 2008 DA-CFM event
December
Auction
Ninth Edition Auction through CFM Auctions Runs December 29th to January 3rd


Montastrea curta Dragons Eye Year 2006 Old Auctioned Edition Schedule

January
Auction
Third Edition Auctioned for $204.52
March
Auction
Fourth Edition Ebay Auctioned for $150.00
May
Auction
Fifth Edition Ebay Auctioned for $150.00


Monatastrea curta Dragons Eye Year 2005 Old Auctioned Edition Schedule

September
Auction
First Edition Auctioned for $202.50
November
Auction
Second Edition sold for $150 list after no Auction bids.


To inquire about this farmed fragment please send an email to reeffarmers@aceweb.com.

Copyright © 2010 by Reeffarmers All Rights Reserved.

BACK TO Limited Editions Favia page