Orange branchingPsammocorais not a coral you’ll see being hyped up in the Red Light district of coral slinging, but that will change once reefers get a good look at a neon orange branchingPsammocora. Although orange encrusting and green branching varieties of variousPsammocoraspecies have been around for a decade it’s only within the last year or so that wild colonies of orange branchingPsammocorahave been imported with any regularity. We first heard rumors of the orange branchingPsammocorafromReefkoiandJgonzlate last summer and only recently have we been able to get some pictures of what we believe two species of orange branchingPsammocora.
Psammocorais a coral genus that doesn’t get much attention which is a pity really; it grows well, comes in branching, encrusting and weird shapes and it can also be orange, green or even pink. Perhaps it’s because of it’s ease of care that most reefers don’t outright discussPsammocora. We’ve had a soft spot for this coral since we saw our first picture in The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium (page 177) which described a colony ofPsammocora contiguawhich had hitchhiked on a piece of live rock.
The picture above appears to be an orange branchingPsammocora obtusangulaand the one below looks closer toPsammocora contigua, both of which were imported from Fiji. Now withPsammocorabeing imported in an orange branching form, of two species, and propagation of orange Psammo not far behind, perhaps we’ll start seeing the reefing community give thePsammocoracoral genus a little bit more love. Thanks to Miguel and Shaun for their information and pictures.
