Lava-Bright Orange SPS ID

AtlantiCat

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Can anybody guess what this might be?

I was given the name "Jason Fox Starlight Caprista," (I even asked for the spelling), but I can't find any coral called "Caprista" and nothing on Jason Fox's website matches. Outer Space Psammacora comes closest.

The skeletal structure reminds me of a Petoskey stone and the color is a lava-bright orange against a dark purplish background. The orange is lava-bright under both daylight and actinic, and a large colony would easily catch your eye across the room. The skeleton appears to be extraordinarily THIN--it almost looks like it was painted on the plug, or alternately that it has eaten into the plug.

Is this possibly a Cyphastrea? I have one other Cyphastrea and the skeletal structure does not look the same to my semi-trained eye (I'm much better with plant leaves). Doesn't look like the Psammacoras I've seen either. Any ideas?

TL;DR: It doesn't match any of the common encrusting SPS I'm familiar with; what is it?

IMG_20240505_180813.jpg
 
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AtlantiCat

AtlantiCat

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Wrong color. My lousy cellphone image doesn't show the color correctly, but the polyps are ORANGE, like it says in the subject.
 

encrustingacro

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Do you have a clearer photo? Corallite structure looks to be thamnasteroid, so something like Leptoseris, Pavona, Lithophyllon, Cycloseris (wellsi/explanulata), etc.
 

TeamAquaSD

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Can anybody guess what this might be?

I was given the name "Jason Fox Starlight Caprista," (I even asked for the spelling), but I can't find any coral called "Caprista" and nothing on Jason Fox's website matches. Outer Space Psammacora comes closest.

The skeletal structure reminds me of a Petoskey stone and the color is a lava-bright orange against a dark purplish background. The orange is lava-bright under both daylight and actinic, and a large colony would easily catch your eye across the room. The skeleton appears to be extraordinarily THIN--it almost looks like it was painted on the plug, or alternately that it has eaten into the plug.

Is this possibly a Cyphastrea? I have one other Cyphastrea and the skeletal structure does not look the same to my semi-trained eye (I'm much better with plant leaves). Doesn't look like the Psammacoras I've seen either. Any ideas?

TL;DR: It doesn't match any of the common encrusting SPS I'm familiar with; what is it?

IMG_20240505_180813.jpg
+1 to thinking it is a leptoseris
 
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