The Montipora Family contains about 19 different species but our featured coral is the encrusting purple Montipora nodosa. This unique Montipora will easily encrust on rock work or frag mounts.  It is a relatively fast growing coral and it is considered to be easy – moderately-easy to care for in a reef aquarium.  Encrusting Montipora Coral is classified by aquarists as a small polyp stony (SPS) coral often referred to as Cabbage, Lettuce or Velvet Rock Coral. It’s a relatively fast growing coral, and under the right conditions will spread and encrust on just about any substrate in the aquarium including the aquarium glass, given the chance. The coral polyps are very small and the calices are less than 2mm in diameter MORE