On a recent tour of theDallas World Aquarium, we had to opportunity to see a very unusual colony ofMycedium, together with two other recognizable species in the genus. All three colonies of these chalice corals were imported asMycediumcorals, with one colony looking like a perfectMycedium elephantotus, and the other colony being a good card-carrying member of theMycedium robokakicomplex
The third colony ofMycediumpictured above with the brown tissue, large pink oral discs and light red edge is unlike anything we have seen before. The contrast between the oddballMycediumis even more pronounced when all three colonies are brought together to contrast their corallite size, shape, features, and the general texture of each beautiful coral.
There is a point whereMycediumandPectiniabecome increasingly similar to each other, we don’t know where that point is, butflattened colonies ofPectiniasure do bear a lot of similarities withMycedium. The only potential way to tell one from the other is to watch for the extension of sweeper tentacles at night which we believe to be a more frequent trait inPectiniacorals, which are known to set off the stinging cell fireworks at night.
Despite the extreme flatness of the unusual pink eyed chalice, our running theory is that this particular coral is indeed aMycedium具有独特的特性,但也收集in an area of really calm water flow and moderate lighting, muting the skeletal features which would otherwise more easily peg it into the genus within which it belongs. With so many colonies of unrecognizable or otherwise, unidentifiable “species” of these large polypedMycediumand flattenedPectiniacorals, there’s a handful of new species here just itching to be giving a close look by coral taxonomists, and several probably new species waiting to be formally described.
