Jeweled Coral, AKA Porites: Easy Coral for Anyone
Found in many diverse locations in surrounding reefs, porites is quite tolerant of a number of varying water fluctuations. They can survive in areas of lower salinity such as near river run offs or shallow areas where rain often times reduces the salinity of the surrounding waters. Turbid regions and varying light intensities can also be tolerated affording them a better chance of survival in a tank.
Porites, like most corals come in a multitude of colors. Yellow, purple, green , blue, mustard and pink hues can be found in the various forms of porites. Some of these corals can really impact a reef tank with the jeweled polyp configuration and the vibrant coloration often represented by these corals. The contrasting colors often associated with the fan worms can add to the eye-catching beauty of the coral colony as well. The various colors evident in porites corals are due to the pigments such as lipofuscin and chromophores, much like symbiotic colors coloration due to zooxanthellae.
Porites coral is similar in appearance to montipora as corallites are small and septa is abundant however the main difference resides in the fact that porites have outward projecting septal teeth. Their skeleton is light weigh like montipora and very porous. Branching, encrusting, flat plate and massive are all forms associated with porites. Most porites found at our local pet shops are branching species like nigrescens and cylindrica. Many times you will encounter porites coral hitchhiking on live rock. Porites can grow rather fast under optimal conditions which includes a moderate water flow and intense light. Usually the bright species of porites hails from shallow lagoon biotopes where the light intensity of the sun drenches the porites coral with little refractory consequences from the water.
The polyps of porites can been seen day or night but zooplanktonic feeding is not assimilated as they are autotrophic, thus are able to manufacture their own nutrients from inorganic sources through the process of photosynthesis. Often times the polyps of stony corals retract at night unless for feeding purposes though the ability of porites polyps remaining out after the lights go out afford you the chance to see them under moon lights or actinics giving you a different concept.
White and black-band disease, bleaching and the infamous algae encroachment problem are all associated with porites. Again, proper water parameters, water flow and lighting will help immensely in the reduction of these problematic situations. They are very resilient corals and if you do come across the problem of disease taking hold of the porites, you can break off the bad section by removing part of the good tissue to ensure that you have removed the infected area and afford your porites a very good chance of rebuilding with no sign of past deformities or injury.
As always, captive propagated forms of porites will afford you the best chances of success. Porites does not have overpowering aggressive adaptations so their chances of harming neighboring corals is minimal. Keeping this in mind however, you have to give some consideration to other corals that you plan on keeping in close proximity so that your porites doesn’t suffer injury possibly leading to its demise.
