Green Frogspawn Coral, Euphyllia divisa

(Phylum Cnidaria, Class Anthozoa, Order Scleractinia. See Overview of Cnidarian Diversity)

This large-polyped stony coral consists of a single huge polyp covering a large fluted internal skeleton. It has a single mouth in the top center, surrounded by numerous branching tentacles that form a mass reminiscent of masses of frog eggs (hence the common name).

Click for closeups of this coral

A coral with a difficult past:

 

This particular individual was purchased at a local reef aquarum shop in August 1999. The price was extremely low because it had suffered dieback due to shipping stress. About half of its skeleton was bare, but it looked helathy otherwise. Unfortunately, in the first week after purchase, it died back completely except for one pinhead sized dot of brown tissue that remained on the otherwise bare skeleton. By January 2000, this tiny dot of tissue had grown into a small polyp about 1 cm across with the beginnings of a new skeleton developing, and by late summer 2000 it had a spread of at least 15 cm (6 inches) with its tentacles fully extended. This was quite a remarkable recovery!