Anemone Coral

About

Anemone coral (Goniopora palmensis) is one of those corals that makes people do a double-take in a display tank. Those fully extended polyps look far more like a cluster of small anemones than a stony coral. Found across shallow reef environments in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea, colonies grow in either a submassive mound form or as branching structures, with branches that rarely fuse together. The individual corallites are notably uniform and circular, each housing a polyp with a pronounced oral cone and short, pointed tentacles that taper to pale tips. Coloration runs from earthy brown to green or cream, with the white tentacle tips adding a bit of contrast when the polyps are open. Like other Goniopora species, this one sits in intermediate territory for reef keepers. It's not the right starting point if you're new to keeping stony corals, but it's approachable for someone with a stable, established system. It appreciates good light and moderate water movement, and tends to do best when water quality is kept consistently clean. Give it room to extend its polyps fully, and it becomes one of the more animated-looking corals you can keep.