by Joe Rowlett | Aug 27, 2018 | Corals
Merulinid level = expert by Barry Brown | Feb 14, 2017 | Conservation, Reef, Science
Good morning all, you can ask any seasoned diver who has been to Bonaire or the Caribbean in the past 10 years “what did you think about the reef on your last dive” and they will all say, “it’s not the same reef as we remember”. Due to years of massive tropical storms, overfishing, dragging nets and anchors, trash and runoff from shore our poor coral reefs are disappearing right before our very eyes and there is little we can do to stop it. On my last trip to Bonaire a few weeks ago I spent more time underwater shooting dying or dead corals than I did photographing fish or coral reef scenes, I must say it’s very alarming. I found colony after colony of wiped out endangered Staghorn coral and only a few brain corals like this one in the shallows, 14 years ago they were quite abundant. by Joe Rowlett | Sep 19, 2015 | Corals, Eye Candy
Merulinidae: Astrea Four extant species (and two extinct) species make up this newly recognized genus. The species are mostly former Montastraea (plus one Plesiastrea) that are identifiable by their symmetrically-round polyps and intracalicular... by Joe Rowlett | Sep 18, 2015 | Corals, Eye Candy
Merulinidae: Favites With twenty species, this is the second most speciose genus of merulinid coral. As discussed above, Favites shares most of its morphological characters with Dipsastraea, differing most visibly in the nature of the corallite arrangement (typically... by Joe Rowlett | Sep 17, 2015 | Corals, Eye Candy
Coral identification is a challenge for every aquarist, and few groups pose as many difficulties as the “closed brain corals”. Well known aquarium references (Sprung 1999, Borneman 2001) are rife with erroneous generalizations and outdated...