Pore Coral

About

Pore coral (Montipora peltiformis) is a broadly distributed Indo-Pacific species found across shallow reef slopes from the surface down to around 50 meters. In the wild it grows in several different ways. Sometimes as a flat encrusting sheet, sometimes as a submassive mound, and sometimes as a foliose, plate-like form. Some colonies also develop nodular upgrowths that give the surface a more three-dimensional texture. The base coloration is a fairly understated pale brown, but the polyps themselves are blue, occasionally photographing with a purple cast, which gives the coral a quiet contrast that's more interesting up close than it first appears from a distance. The corallites are small and sit immersed on flatter colony sections, becoming slightly more raised on any nodular portions, where papillae around the rims create an irregular, almost rough-edged appearance. In a reef aquarium this coral demands serious commitment. It belongs in a well-established, high-output system with plenty of water movement and very strong lighting. It is not a species that forgives neglect or swings in water quality, and most experienced reefers would not recommend it to someone still learning the fundamentals of coral husbandry. For a keeper with a mature, stable system, though, it is a genuinely interesting Montipora with more character than its muted palette might suggest.