Before we get into today's pictures, I like to mention that the last part of "My Coral Adventures - aquaculture hunting in Northern Bali" is up at the reeftank.com. Go check it out! I'd like to thank Ava, the blog moderator at the reeftank.com for putting up one of my Coral Adventure stories. Thanks Ava!
One of the most asked questions I get from readers is "where are all the corals being exported to?" The answer is, we have customers all over the world. Our corals are so high in demand that we actually sell to the LFS's, other exporters, and even to high end hobbyists.
And now... coral pics!
Beautiful Acanthastrea maxima! This one is unusually small, but exceptionally vibrant!
I managed to save this big head from RTN. The full piece had three heads, but the two smaller ones receded overnight and I chopped them off to save the main piece.
Very strange and bright neon green Acan max!
Check out this pair of Acan max heads! This is a new color scheme that I have never seen - beautiful!
Here is one of those weird large headed Acan - lobo looking corals. These seem to be only found in Makassar area reefs. Totally strange and unique. Many of these type of corals, like the Acanthastrea rotundoflora, will form a neat green rim under aquarium lighting. Rare and a collector's item!
A little stressed out Acanthastrea bowerbanki. You can always distinguish this species by the large central head, surrounded by smaller heads. Truly a rare coral!
Wow! Get a load of this baby! Huge Acanthastrea echinata large head piece. I'm sure this is a new species of Acan or just a weird morph of the regular echinatas. What ever it is, one thing is for sure, it is extremely rare!
Another Acan echinata large head. This one has some growing up to do. Still it is a handsome little dude!
Ok, this is what a regular Acanthastrea echinata looks like. Can't tell, but is really metallic in color!
Acanthastrea rotundofloras come in two color morphs. One is the green one with orange eyes and the other one is this darker brown with orange eyes. But one thing is common, both kinds will form a nice green rim under artificial lighting. Relatively rare, but my suppliers are finding more and more specimens - way cool coral!
Small headed Acanthastrea lordhowensis. This one is unusual in that it has very small heads, similar to a micromussa!
Another one of the corals that I found at a local fish store. This montastrea/favia is yellow-green with yellow-orange eyes!
A basket of L/T doreensis anemones! Check out the bright red one, could mistake it for a rose anemone. The metallic pink/red doreensis is not common and glows under actinics!
Assorted bubble tips anemones. The best rose anemones I have seen though, come from the Flores area. This is where you get the gorgeous yellow tip morphs.
Some carpets anemones. The green and the purple one is from Papua (Irian Jaya). The pizza anemone (Cryptodendrum adhaesivum) is from Makassar, and so is the little washed out super rare purple haddoni on the right corner. This anemone is more than rare, I've only seen two other specimens in the two years that I been in Indonesia. Both of the other ones were though, metallic in color. This little one just needs some tender loving care and should be fine.
Bright metallic orange Blastomussa wellsi. Too bad not the most sought after blasto, but I still dig it!
Ok, so this is the one that everyone is looking for, the two color morph. This one is unusual in that the center almost looks blue, but is not. Still, a nice addition to any reef!
Once in a while, I'll run into unusual morphs. This "pumpkin" blasto is definitely one of them. The bright green mouth is really striking!
Another blasto that is not common. This one is almost the reverse of the red with green skirt - way cool!
Metallic red with sky blue streaks makes this chalice very striking! The bad thing is that this particular coral is a poor shipper. The edges always get damaged to some degree. In our reefs at home though, it heals very quickly and colors up like crazy. One of the easiest chalice corals for the beginning reefers!
Ok no joke, this metallic orange chalice has blotches of green and some other colors! Small but totally amazing!
Gorgeous echinophyllia chalice! This Makassar beauty is kind of rare, and normally this morph doesn't have these colors. Usually the colors are just green and pink stripes. The best chalices however, like the watermelon types don't come from Makassar, but from West Java!
Another coral that I made popular in Makassar. No one had any idea what this coral was. This is a Scolymia vitiensis. I dubbed it "true Indo Scolymia vitiensis". I say "true", because the cynarina donut is known as the Scolymia vitiensis here in Indonesia. All the donuts until recently have been exported under this name. A bit of a problem because the fish and wildlife in the US thinks that a donut is a cynarina species. I see from time to time people selling this coral, as the "true Indo Scolymia vitiensis". The colors are usually dull to metallic red and of course there is the green ones. The one pictured is unusual for having both red and green!
Metallic green donuts anyone? These come in ultra metallic colors and literally glows under actinics!
A metallic red cynarina donut. Certain islands off of Makassar, specialize in these corals. Donuts, trachyphyllias, and elegance corals are all found in the same area - on the bottom of murky sea grass beds!
Another beautiful multicolor metallic donut!
Purple favia/montastreas are not common. One out of 100 favias will have this color - just too cool!
So this is the most common morph of the favia in Makassar. The funny thing is that the best ones in other areas of Indonesia don't even look good as these!
Very cool favia with yellow mouths. This one is definitely not common. As a matter of fact, this is the first one of its kind that I have seen. Lucky reefer in the US will end up with this awesome piece!
Gorgeous pink and purple fungia! I took this photo with macro with led under actinics.
Here is what it looks like under regular daylight and actinic. Must see it under pure actinics to see the true crazy colors!
Orange fungias are common in Makassar. This one is not, it is actually orange and green!
Super red fungia/cycloseris. This one came in from the islands with slight tissue damage on its edges. But when it full opens, you can't tell. Won't take long to heal back up for sure!
Check out this strange fungia. The colors are really bright and stands out among other green and purple fungias!
Purple and green hammers are common in Makassar!
Beautiful pink and purple lobophyllia! This morph can bleach out quickly if not careful!
Conclusion
Ok guys, so I am in Hong Kong now. Spent the day checking out some local fish stores. They actually have a whole street dedicated to fish stores. The problem is that they will not allow any photos to be taken inside their stores. So I can only take pictures from outside, a shame since there were lots of rare fish that I wanted to photograph to share with you. In a couple of days, I will post again more pictures and update what I've been up to.
Cheers,
Eddie
6 comments:
Hey Eddie,
Dont forget to try the wonton noodles there..
Yo Ace!
My friend's girl recommended a place and man I got to tell you, it is pretty damn good! I hear there is a better place, got to go check that out. But remember I'm still coming out to see you, and we got to go check out the Singapore won ton!
Cheers,
Eddie
Haha.. no problem man! I'll make a list of famous onton for you to go. Remember Jemmy and Susan from KDC Jakarta? They should be dropping by before heading to Toronto. Maybe we have a big "Wonton" gathering! Cheers!
That is cool you are doing a piece with thereeftank.com. I'll have to check it out.
TRT a great site with lots of friendly people.
Hi Eddie, you said you were going to HK "to help my customer promote and sell my incredible products." This sounds a little bit wrong because the products are strictly not yours, when most were collected at the ocean.:) There is a difference between 'my products' when someone cultures corals, and 'my products' when they are just collected..
You identifications on the corals are not very good. Try getting a decent reference... i.e. one that is not written by Veron!! He couldn't tell a Mussid from a Fungiid!!!
Also try putting a scale in your photos... that would make them better.
And stop destroying corals on your trip... you do know that they are becoming endangered don't you?
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