Rounded Bubblegum Coral

About

The rounded bubblegum coral (Nemenzophyllia turbida) is one of the more unusual-looking large polyp stony corals you'll encounter in the hobby, forming sweeping colonies of inflated, water-filled mantles that give it that soft, pillowy silhouette. In the wild, it ranges across the Indo-West Pacific from the Philippines through Indonesia to Papua New Guinea, where it inhabits turbid, sheltered reef zones rather than the clear, high-energy environments many other LPS corals prefer. That natural background is an important clue to its care: this is not a coral that wants blasting flow or intense light. Moderate, diffuse lighting and very gentle water movement are what keep it happy, which actually makes it a reasonable candidate for lower-energy reef builds where other corals might struggle. The coloration is mostly grey with pale edges to the mantles. Understated compared to some of its flashier relatives, but there is a certain elegance to the way a healthy colony expands and fills space. Its valley walls and internal skeletal structures are notably thin and fragile, so physical handling should be kept to an absolute minimum. Experienced reef keepers tend to do better with this coral, mainly because getting flow and placement dialed in takes some patience and familiarity with reading coral behavior.