Limbo, anyone?
The “orange blob” is Montipora capricornis, but for some reason never plated out in the familiar scrolls we are used to seeing. As new sections grew, they inevitably would curl downward only to add more to the blob. Interestingly, it too has found a way to live with another colony of birdsnest coral, intertwining and scrolling. The challenge to photograph it so it could be appreciated was a difficult one, and it was even worse trying to pull it out of the tank. The blob was 26” in length, 9” in width, and 10” in height.
With all the upper corals out of the tank, more water was drained into the vats and the dry box fell off, now that the necessary water pressure was gone. Fortunately, it didn’t land on anything breakable in that spot in the aquarium. Time to take out the blob. Almost magically, I was able to lift the entire thing up as a single piece with its birdsnest neighbor and the rock beneath. To think, this coral was oirginally about the size of a snackable fruit cup. The amalgamated chunk was too big to remove as one piece, but fate snapped it in two at the perfect spot. The blob was placed in the lower vat, and the rock with the birdsnest and scrolling plates was placed beside it.
The biggest surprise was when I tried to pull out the corals in the left corner of the tank. A huge Tongan rock supported at least 10 species of life, and when I tugged at it, the entire piece pulled out as one. Even the 12” wide by 7” tall puddle of encrusting Pavona that had grown up the oveflow pulled loose along with it, standing stoically and ready to be transferred out. That plating coral was thicker than I expected, and the back felt like smooth porcelain instead of the brittle porous stoney material we normally encounter.
One of the anemones was holding onto multiple rocks, and was torn slightly during the relocation. As of now, instead of three bubble tips, there are four.
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