Scolymia or Cynaria

[hunter220reef]

http://home.comcast.net/~steve_m10/images/WebPics/RH_Coral_5.jpg
I thought these were a scolymia but based on this article it's Cynarina (=Acanthophyllia) deshayesiana .... http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2003/invert.htm

I found another site that says they are Scolymia Australis... http://www.zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=976

Anyone else have any of these? Anyone know what it is really called?

[hunter220reef]

They are each about 4" across... and if I turn the flow off in the tank for 12 hours (4 tunzes in an sps tank) they will inflate to almost twice that size!!

[BlastoEric1589]

at that size they are definately cynarinas

scolymias look very similar when not given a size comparison, or when the coral is not inflated fully.

scollys reach a max size of about 3 inches or so and only infalte very little past their skeleton.

cynarinas, however, can inflate 2-4X larger than their skeletons and are very meaty and thick. hence, the reason why hobbyist have nicknamed it the meat coral.

i love cynarinas. im sad to say that i recently lost one that had a 4" diameter skeleton and approx. a 7" infaltion diameter.

another reason why the two corals are easily confused is because they share many of the same typical colorations, but these corals are definately cynarinas IMO

[hunter220reef]

Appreciate it... here is a reply I got on WAMAS about the corals... so I am trying to get a definate answer... your answer makes sense... thank you!

What you have are actually call Scolymia Meat coral which opens BIG. Recent Australia Scolymia are more like pastel colors, but the DO NOT open big like yours.

Example of Australia Scolymia...
http://www.oceaninabox.com/servlet/the-306...ng-Apple/Detail

Example of Cynarina....
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_di...&pcatid=460

[hunter220reef]

Anyone else have an opinion? I am thinking Eric is right about it being a cynaria...

[hunter220reef]

Also,

Are these more or less desireable/attainable than scolymia?

[cmondo]

I agree with the cynaria ID.

These are less desirable than scoly's, as scoly's only recently been widely available on the market and have intense colors.

Still that is a nice coral you have.

[hunter220reef]

Thank you! Here is another picture...

http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp257/hunterdasch/D90FirstPics177.jpg

[bigdaddy76]

Nice collections of cynaria

[cherokee_dude]

Yup Cynaria! The meat gives it away :)
Very beautiful animals.

[oddballs]

In my opinion cynarin that are good colors are harder to obtain from wholesalers than scolymias. Scolymia australias are flooded on the market ,I never thaught that I would see the day I would even see a couple of S.Australias let alone see them flood the market!

[BlastoEric1589]

i dont know oddballs. over here in socal, i see cynarinas at all the reputable LFS's whereas i dont see very many aussie scolies up for sale...

geographic discrepency i guess...