Staghorn Coral

About

Found on upper reef slopes where wave energy is relentless, Acropora polystoma is a shallow-water coral built for surge and swell. In the wild it occurs across a broad Indo-Pacific range, typically between about 3 and 10 meters depth, where strong water movement is a constant. Colonies grow as irregular clumps or flattened corymbose plates, with branches of fairly uniform length radiating outward. What really sets this species apart visually is the texture of those branches: the radial corallites run in rows along the sides and are irregularly immersed to tubular, giving the whole colony a noticeably spiny, almost bristled look. Axial corallites are small and slightly raised. Coloration varies from cream through yellow to a soft blue that can shift pink in photographs, depending on lighting and zooxanthellae density. In the aquarium, this species is firmly in the advanced category. It wants intense, high-quality lighting and very strong, random flow to mimic that wave-washed reef crest environment. Water quality has to be dialed in and stable, and even then it can be unforgiving of lapses. If you are newer to SPS keeping, there are more forgiving Acropora species to cut your teeth on first. For the experienced reefer with a mature, high-flow system, it is a genuinely interesting piece with a distinctive silhouette.