A beautiful Favia?

[Miami Reef]

This is a gorgeous LPS. I’m pretty sure it’s a favia, but isn’t favia a loaded term in the science and reefing community?


Does anyone have a trade name or any additional information on this coral? I want to place it under a ledge on the bottom of my tank, but I’m afraid of bleaching it out.

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

Looks like watermelon favia?

 

[Miami Reef]

Looks like watermelon favia?

View attachment 2952315

Thank you!

 

[encrustingacro]

Dipsastraea cf speciosa, not Favia, as there are no Favias in the hobby. This color morph is commonly called Christmas Favia by the hobby.

 

[Miami Reef]

Dipsastraea cf speciosa, not Favia, as there are no Favias in the hobby. This color morph is commonly called Christmas Favia by the hobby.

Wow. Thank you SO much! I really appreciate it!

 

[Big E]

Dipsastraea cf speciosa, not Favia, as there are no Favias in the hobby. This color morph is commonly called Christmas Favia by the hobby.

I don't know why some author makes a decision to re classify names. Makes no sense to me...........Dipsastraea didn't exist as a coral name until 2014. Corals of the World still has all of these listed as favias.

I consider Corals of the World the authority on corals and they are updating for 22-23. I imagine that's when we will see the changed name listing..........so until then I'm calling them favias

 

[Uriken]

Im going to use the defining term Favia just for the sake as its always been that for many years until late. I love these corals and found keeping them was a bit of a challenge and from experience feel after many years I got a good understanding of what they like. Just a few suggestions but placement if you have a rock that you can mount it on the side ( so its more vertical then flat or at an angle ) with good flow and lighting that presents a little shade. They seem to thrive for me when I follow those aspects. Frequent feeding as well and these guys will grow. They can have some surprising long sweepers so take caution location of other corals around them.

 

[encrustingacro]

I don't know why some author makes a decision to re classify names. Makes no sense to me...........Dipsastraea didn't exist as a coral name until 2014. Corals of the World still has all of these listed as favias.

I consider Corals of the World the authority on corals and they are updating for 22-23. I imagine that's when we will see the changed name listing..........so until then I'm calling them favias

COTW uses outdated taxonomic nomenclature that the scientific community does not use anymore. The current taxonomic nomenclature is based on genetic and micromorphological analysis while COTW uses macromorphological analysis, which is an outdated method. WoRMS (marinespecies.org) is the real authority for corals and other sea life.

 

[Big E]

Understood on the genetic makeup but that's still not a reason to change the name to something that didn't exist before. They could have still used favia as the scientific name.

 

[encrustingacro]

Understood on the genetic makeup but that's still not a reason to change the name to something that didn't exist before. They could have still used favia as the scientific name.

Taxonomic nomenclature is supposed to reflect the phylogenic relantionships between organisms. Taxonomists at the time found that the genus Favia at the time was polyphyletic, with Indo-Pacific Favias being more related to the merulinids and Caribbean Favias being more related to the Atlantic mussids. The reason why taxonomists couldn’t still use the name ‘Favia’ for indo-pacific species was because the type species of Favia was an Atlantic species, so Atlantic Favias retained the name ‘Favia’ while Indo-Pacific Favias were moved to a new genus, Dipsastraea.