Purple Montipora Plate coral (Montipora sp.)

Purple Montipora plate, just added to display tank. Picture taken February 2006, Nikon D70 Digital SLR, Sigma 105mm lens This is a purple unknown species of montipora that was given to me as a small frag. The coral as pictured is less than 1 inch across. Due to the angle needed to see the purple, photographing it is very difficult, sorry for the blurred image.

Purple Montipora plate, three months later. Picture taken May 2006, Nikon D70 Digital SLR, Sigma 105mm lens This picture is three months later. This coral lost is beautiful purple color (reason I bought it), but is showing excellent growth. The purple polyps still look pretty.

Purple Montipora plate, four months later. Picture taken September 2006, Nikon D70 Digital SLR, Sigma 105mm lens This montipora has been showing some excellent growth. Oddly it seems to be growing downwards and not upwards towards the light. The color is still not exactly what I’m looking for but overall its a nice coral.

Purple Montipora plate, three months later. Picture taken December 2006, Nikon D70 Digital SLR, Sigma 105mm lens Wow.. the montipora has nearly doubled in size during the past 3 months. The color has improved as well. Oddly, the plate continues to grow downwards and not upwards as I expected. If you look carefully you can see a brain coral below it that is starting to get shaded.