Pore Coral

About

Pore coral (Montipora cebuensis) is one of the more architecturally interesting members of a very large genus, forming contorted, dissected plates and fronds rather than the simple flat sheets you see in many other Montipora species. The coenosteum, the skeletal tissue between individual corallites, is marked by prominent ridges that run in irregular patterns across larger fronds but tend to align perpendicular to the edges on smaller growth tips, giving the colony a textured, almost sculptural look up close. Corallites themselves are scattered between these ridges in no particular order. Coloration is typically brown, though colonies often develop pale blue or blue-grey margins that provide a subtle contrast worth appreciating under good reef lighting. In the wild this coral is distributed across a wide band of the Indo-West Pacific, living in shallow reef environments including lagoons, from just below the surface down to around 35 meters. In the aquarium it demands conditions that reflect those bright, well-circulated shallow-water habitats. Very high light and vigorous flow are non-negotiable. Like most Montipora, it should be considered an advanced keeper's coral, best suited to a mature, stable reef system where parameters don't fluctuate.