This Montipora has developed a spectacular coloration in captivity. We initially recieved
a small fragment of this coral from Ken Gosinski of Michigan in March 2005. Ken called the
coral a Montipora grisea. Originally it was light blue colored with green tentacles. The
tentacles are bushy and extend during the day. Reeffarmers was farming and selling fragments
of this coral as an exotic in the $30 to $40 price range. The coral maintained its green and
blue coloration under weak to moderate light levels. In September of 2005 we upgraded the
light reflector in this reef to a luminarc diamond-type reflector, which according to Sanjay
Joshi's past testing is a highly efficient type of reflector. Within two months the corals
polyps developed a very interesting pigmentation. The base of the polyp is a very dark greenish,
while the tips of the polyp tentacles are now bright blue (see closeup image below).
We have never seen a Montipora with Blue Tipped Tentacles before. This also explains why we
call it the Blue Tipped Monti. The base blue color of the coral has also developed a more
rich baby blue color and that color is more visually pleasing then the original slightly
faded light blue that the initial Gosinski fragment had, which may have been caused by shipping
stress. Its possible that the corals entire polyp could develop the baby blue pigments. If that
does occur we may change the corals name from 'Blue Tipped Monti' to 'The Full Blue Monti'.
Steve Tyree is maintaining a farmed small colony 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 levels under a 400 watt 20,000 K Radium Metal Halide.
We are not exactly sure why the blue tipped polyp tentacles developed, but assume it is because
of the moderate to strong light levels the coral is now recieveing from a more efficient
reflector. Please note - Reeffarmers retired this coral in August 2010. We lost our seed
section and demand was off for the coral.
Montipora sp. Blue Tipped Monti Polyp Closeup - Note Tentacle Tip Pigment
TM
