Blastomussa angularesis a new species of scleractinian stony coral recently described from India by Mondal & Raghunathan. Blastomussa are a very popular group of fleshy LPS corals that are mostly supplied from the Indo-Pacific and Australia so we don’t have much experience of knowledge of the few Indian Ocean species
The closely related Blastomussa loyae from the Red Sea and western Indian Ocean.
The exotic Blasto species we haven’t yet enjoyed in our reef tanks includeBlastomussa loyaeandB. omanensis,后者仍为Parasimplastreaby Dr. Veron. All of theBlastomussaspecies to date have fallen either under the smaller polyp species likeB. loyae,B. omanensis, and the familiar ‘fluted’B. merletiwith corallites smaller than 8mm in diameter while the large polyp speciesB. wellsiandB. vividahave corallites 9mm or larger.
Interestingly the newly describedBlastomussa angulareshas corallites that range in size from 6 to 10mm but one of the key distinguishing features is the angular outline of the corallites, hence theangularesspecies name. The description ofBlastomussa angulareswas performed using only a single colony for the holotype which was found at a depth of 40 meters, or 131 feet, at Bangaram Island of Lakshadweep, India.
It’s no surprise that this intermediate species would be found roughly between the geographic centers of the small polyp species of the Indian Ocean and the larger polyp species of the Indo-Australian species.Blastomussa angularesshares some similarities withB. loyaewhich we can see from the prominent radiating stripes and other skeletal features seemed to support that artificial assessment.
We made some minor manual adjustments to correct the blue-heavy photos of the in-situ colony included in theoriginal manuscriptbut it was a very light touch. There’s a tremendous amount of variability of both color and shape inBlastomussaspecies so we’re very excited to add one more to the genus for a total of six and we’ll be on the lookout for any further reports ofBlastomussa angularescoming from the central Indian Ocean.