In January of 2003 Shaun Monahan of ecorals exchanged exotic stony coral
fragments with reeffarmers.com. One of the corals Shaun sent was unidentified
and he was looking for some assistance with identifying the coral. As soon as
Steve Tyree of reeffarmers.com removed the initial fragment of this coral from
its shipping bags, he thought 'I think I know what this is !'. After placing the coral
in a secure location, and not dropping it, Steve quickly paged through the 3 volume
Stony Coral Identification Guides called Corals of the World by Veron. And there it was.
This coral was the elusive and long sought after Echinopora mammiformis. Steve called
Shaun and as soon as Shaun looked at the images of this coral in Corals of the World,
he stated 'Thats it !'. This Echinopora has some very unique traits. It develops flat
plates and contorted branches. A branching Echinopora is an exotic coral. This corals
corallites are large, distinctive and conical. What makes this particular species even
more exotic then the branching Echinopora horrida, is that the corallites of the E.
mammiformis actually have a blue to purple coloration within them. It is unknown at
this time exactly what type of lighting stimulates the most intense purple/blue
corallite coloration. Pictures of this super exotic coral can be found in Corals of
the World Volume 3 pg 266-267. To date this coral has only shown very slow growth in
captive systems. Steve Tyree is maintaining this coral for reeffarmers.com in one of
his 125 gallon naturally filtered Tri-Zonal EG Reef Aquariums. In Steve's captive reef
the coral is positoned at about 14 inches from a 400 watt 20,000 K Radium Metal Halide.
The coloration of the coral is easily maintained within this reef, but the corallite
color intensity should be capable of being developed more fully. Water current is weak
to moderate. Please note this coral was retired on December 2008 due to the loss of the seed.
Echinopora mammiformis Year 2008 Monthly Limited Edition Schedule
March
Cancelled
June
Cancelled
September
Cancelled
December
Cancelled
Echinopora mammiformis Year 2009 Monthly Limited Edition Schedule
March
Cancelled
June
Cancelled
September
Cancelled
December
Cancelled
Echinopora mammiformis Year 2010 Monthly Limited Edition Schedule
March
Cancelled
June
Cancelled
September
Cancelled
December
Cancelled
Echinopora mammiformis Year 2011 Monthly Limited Edition Schedule
March
Cancelled
June
Cancelled
September
Cancelled
December
Cancelled
Echinopora mammiformis Year 2012 Monthly Limited Edition Schedule
March
Cancelled
June
Cancelled
September
Cancelled
December
Cancelled
Echinopora mammiformis Year 2004 TriMonthly Limited Edition Schedule
March
Shipped to Ara D.
June
Shipped to Jerry G.
September
Cancelled
October
Cancelled
November
Shipped to N. Columbo
December
Cancelled
Echinopora mammiformis Year 2005 Monthly Limited Edition Schedule
January
Shipped to B. Adams
February
Shipped to G. Lissauer
March
Cancelled
April
Cancelled
May
Cancelled
June
Cancelled
July
Cancelled
August
Cancelled
September
Cancelled
October
Cancelled
November
Cancelled
December
Cancelled
Echinopora mammiformis Year 2006 Monthly Limited Edition Schedule
January
Cancelled
February
Shipped to I. Hartwell
June
Cancelled
September
Cancelled
December
Cancelled
Echinopora mammiformis Year 2007 Monthly Limited Edition Schedule
TM
