Pocillopora damicornus

Purchased January 16th, 2000. The polyps of this SPS coral are very fine, like hairs, which gives it a fuzzy appearance. I’m told this coral was a frag off of a colony from Jeremy @ Coral Reef Aquarium store in Massachusetts (AKA Skeldang on #REEFS). He purchased the original colony from Inland Aquatics sometime in 1997. He broke a frag off and gave that to someone who gave it to Paragon Aquatics in Connecticut. So this coral traveled around a bit before finding its way into my tank.

This coral has shown significant growth in the past 7 months. It has grown only a little bit taller, but has clearly gotten much wider. The Turbinaria in the foreground is growing well and starting to block the view of the Pocillopora.

This image was taken two months later and the colony is visibly larger. It has a very tight growth form which makes it very hard to frag. I’ve decided to just leave it alone for now.

It has really gotten pretty large. I’ve had it almost 2 years now. I question how much longer its small base will be able to hold up this pretty big head. Unlike most corals, this does not lay down a new base to support the size of the coral. The size of the original frag is all of the base this coral has.