The recently describedAnastromvos‘Astro Leather’ coral is a very curious genus that is just beginning to receive a modest degree of appreciation. We were very fortunate to receive some live colonies fromOceans Reefs Marine Aquariumsin West Australia barely a week after the original description and have learned a lot about this peculiar leather coral over time.
The delineation betweenLobophytumdevil’s hand andSarcophytontoadstool leather corals is pretty well defined, and easy to see both in frags and even more so in large colonies. These two broad genera of corals do great in a wide range of reef tanks, growing fast and living harmoniously side by side. But very recently we noticed that the same cannot be said for the unique Astro leather corals we are keeping in our soft coral only reef tank.
Get to know the leather corals: Sarcophyton, Lobophytum and Sinularia
While the bulbousAnastromvosleather corals may look very similar toSarcophytontoadstools, the sting that Astro leathers receive from common toadstools points to a much greater division than we ever imagined; these are not just a little different butverydifferent to exhibit such a sensitivity to the sting of common toadstools.
As the polyps from our OG Weeping Willow leather and common long polyp leathers have grown and increased their reach, it’s been rather surprising to see the polyps from Astro leathers withdraw to avoid them. With increased contact the Astro leathers will then exhibit a burn to their tissue so it’s fair to say they arereallynot liking the cuddles from theirSarcophytonneighbors.
In the video below you can see a nice lineup of common leather coral frags including first Lobophytum, Long Polyps toadstool, Astro leather, OG Weeping Willow, then Astro leather again. We will continue to grow and observe all these various leather corals and look forward to seeing the newly discoveredAnastromvosgrow larger, and what they will look like when they reach a mature size.
