通过显微镜omussa pacificais a name that we’ve all been waiting for to identify an undescribed coral for nearly a decade. Ever since the small ‘Indonesian Scolymia’ popped up on the radar of reefers, it’s gone by many names but we all knew that this coral was neither aScolymia(=Homophyllia), and definitely not ‘Acan Maxima‘ which is endemic to the Red Sea and Middle East.
The newly minted通过显微镜omussa pacificajoins the freshly reassigned通过显微镜omussa lordhowensisinto a genus which is growing ever larger to accomodate some of our favorite LPS corals. Despite its superficial resemblance to our belovedHomophyllia australisin both colors and shape, the similarity is only ‘skin’ deep.
Underneath the prodigious tissue of通过显微镜omussa pacificathe skeletal features of this coral differ greatly from the characteristics ofHomophyllia.通过显微镜omussa pacificais most often encountered in a solitary form with corallites maxing out at around two inches across, but usually much smaller.
The rare specimen of通过显微镜omussa pacificacan also be found with two or three corallites, but rarely we encounter small colonies which is more reminiscent of the colonies we see in ‘classic’通过显微镜omussaas well asM. lordhowensis. The new reclassification of通过显微镜omussa pacificais part of paper by Arrigoni et. al. 2016 which is currently in press.
It’s very exciting to see so much activity in the space of coral taxonomy, with the work by many researchers outlining even more species diversity in this space than we ever realized. Furthermore, we are beyond tired of calling the Indo Scolie by ‘Acan Maxima’ with air quotes every time we try to discuss this coral with someone, and通过显微镜omussa pacificais such a better fitting name.
