Amazing Orange Hammer Coral at Pacific East Aquaculture is Truly Deserving of its Name

We have seen plenty of orange and yellow Euphyllid corals in our time, whether it’s the gold torch corals or the yellow hammers, but more often than not, those that are being labeled as with these colors are really nothing more than an unimpressive, brown looking corals. Thankfully, a coral like this one comes along every once in a while a restores our faith in the coral labeling process. Pacific East Aquaculture posted several images of their newest imports on Reef2Reef, and among them was this deep orange hammer. Truly a unique coral, this hammer doesn’t just have highlights of orange or yellow on the tips of its tentacles, which is usually the case. Instead, this orange beauty has a deep, rich, and complete color that starts in the deepest part of the coral head and permeates every square inch of tissue. It is one of the few corals that truly earns its name.

Interesting New ‘Creeper Monti’ from The CandyShop

Because it’s a cold and dreary Friday (at least around here) and it seems like we haven’t posted about any corals lately, we present you with the Creeper Monti, a new offering from The Candy Shop. This encrusting montipora coral is beyond bright, sporting a neon pink base that is broken up with small patches of green and even some shdes of purple. And it doesn’t appear to be the green fluorescing protein (GFP) that infects various corals only to eventually go away completely. Instead, it might be the result of grafting two colors variants of the same species into one individual, a popular practice that also results in the coral reverting back to a single color in most situations. Regardless of whether this is the case or not, that pink is just too eye-catching to pass up, especially when our tanks are usually dominated with blues and greens. There are tons of variations of monti corals on the market, and this one will surely catch your eye.

California Academy of Science Opens Up a Pair of Live Webcams on Philippine Lagoon Exhibit

Have you ever wanted to visit a public aquarium but just haven’t had the time to make the trip? Alternatively, do you frequent these aquariums and just can’t seem to get enough? Well, if you fall into either of those two categories, then you’re in a bit of luck. The California Academy of Science has recently put up two live webcams that focus on a couple of different areas of their massive Philippine Lagoon. Both feeds can be accessed via the academy’s website, where you just pick and choose which area you wish to view. With the lagoon view, observers can witness routine shark feedings every Tuesday and Thursday at 1:30pm PST. The tank is also fed randomly on other days, so you might catch a feeding if you stick around long enough. The second viewing of the lagoon is called the “Reef View”. Unfortunately, it’s not aimed at a reef, rather it is another area where sharks and rays seem to accumulate. It differs from the lagoon in that it has a rock structure and more ocean life, but it’s not the massive collection of corals that we know are at the academy.

AquaNerd’s Top 10 Stories from 2013

This year is quickly becoming a thing of the past, and as we creep forward to 2014, we couldn’t help but stop and reflect on all of the stories that made 2013 so memorable. While we have a handful of recap articles on the way, we wanted to first take a look at the top 10 most visited articles that hit your computer screens and mobile devices from the AquaNerd Blog. The list has a few shockers on it, at least from our standpoint, and they weren’t all good news for the aquarium hobby. So, check out the list and let us know what aquarium related stories had the biggest impact on you and your hobby. Continue below for the full list… Mindstream Aquarium Monitoring System Measures Twelve Parameters with One UnitThe Mindstream aquarium monitor came out of nowhere and news of its abilities took the hobby by storm. Able to monitor twelve different water paraters using fluorescent technology, this tiny device looked like it would be the perfect solution for hobbyists looking to get away from test kits. The Mindstream is set to debut sometime next year, as beta testing is still underway, and we can’t wait to see how well it performs. There is a ton of excitement around this product, so it’s no surprise to see it on our list…we just didn’t expect it to shoot to the top only because it wasn’t published until November. Newer, Bigger Maxspect R420R 200W Displayed at MACNAAlso making its debut in 2013 was a much larger version of the R420r from Maxspect.