Pore Coral

About

Pore coral (Montipora hodgsoni) is one of the more architecturally interesting members of its genus, building colonies of thin, highly dissected plates that can stack into loose tiers or whorl outward from a central point. The overall colony color is a uniform grey-brown, but look closely and you'll spot the individual polyps, which range from white to a soft blue that can shift toward purple depending on your lighting. The textured coenosteum surface is covered in short, irregular ridges that run roughly perpendicular to the colony edge, giving the whole structure a finely worked, almost ceramic quality. In the wild this species occupies protected upper reef slopes across a broad stretch of the Indo-West Pacific, roughly spanning from the eastern Indian Ocean out into the western Pacific. Like most Montipora, it relies heavily on its zooxanthellae and demands both intense lighting and robust water movement to stay healthy in captivity. The thin plating growth form makes colonies somewhat fragile and sensitive to parameter swings, so this one is generally best suited to keepers who already have experience maintaining demanding SPS systems. It is considered reef safe and poses no threat to neighboring corals beyond potential shading as it grows.