Cantharellusis a genus of Fungiid coral that you’ve probably never heard of, but which is actually kind of really common and widespread on reefs around the world. Whereas the majority of disc corals that we get for our aquariums likeCycloserisandFungiaare super easy to collect because they are free-living and unattached to the reef,Cantharellusis very different in that it is usually encrusting, and it does so quite solidly too.
The other reason that we don’t really seeCantharellusin aquariums is that most of them are really doo-doo brown, not really a desirable trait for the general aquarium hobby. We’ve seen many hundreds ofCantharellusout in the wild, and every now and then a loose one comes into the trade, mistaken for a regular disc coral, or attached to the side of another coral piece, and nearly all of them are pretty bland, maybe showing the barest hints of green.
However while passing throughWalt Smith Fijion our return from themanbext客户端we went perusing their stock of Fijian corals, and we were elated to find not one but TWO specimens ofCantharellusthat are highlighter orange. It’s funny that orangeCycloserisare about as common as colorful corals get, yet these are the only two coloredCantharelluswe’ve ever seen, and that makes them actually very rare coral specimens indeed.
