The story of my Astreopora montiporina colony is an interesting one. If you’re not familiar with this coral don’t worry, it is not commonly known or collected; it was named as a new species in 2011. Back to my story, I purchased a colony of clove polyps four years ago and when I was making some fragments I noticed that the rock the clove polyps were growing on was not a rock but the underside of a browned out coral colony. I removed all of the clove polyps, turned the coral towards the light, and waited to see what would happen. During the following months it slowly started to recover, the color changed from brown to green. After about a year it looked like this.

Astreopora after about a year of recovery

I didn’t know what kind of coral it was; the growth characteristics looked like a montipora, but the polyps were very spaced out compared to any montipora I had ever seen. I maintained the colony under T5 lighting for the next few years, it grew slowly and the color continued to improve. This past Spring I posted pictures on one of the reefing forums I participate on; after some discussion a few people suggested that it wasn’t a montipora species but an Astreopora. It has been a long and interesting road for this coral that was saved from obscurity. If there is a moral to this story, always check to make sure a rock is actually a rock.

Macro showing the large polyps and bleeding color after the polyps.

Encrusting, plating growth formation

Asteropora montiporina fragments