I was walking through our Aquaculture Coral & Marine Life Facility the other day when a beautiful coral caught my eye. It was a Heteroxenia, a soft coral closely related to Xenia. Usually Heteroxenia spp. are tan or silver, but this one was purple! I soon found out that this was going to be a new Drs. Foster & Smith Certified Captive Grown Coral frag.
It’s exciting when we offer a new aquacultured coral frag; everyone is involved with fragging, caring for, or naming the new coral. It’s not easy coming up with a catchy name that captures the color and form of the coral. I’m not very creative, so I usually try to leave the naming to my more creative co-workers. Chris M. and I were looking at the coral when we both said, “This coral sure does look like an Octopus.” That’s when it hit me – Octopus ink is purple, and each polyp of this coral has eight tentacles, just like an Octopus! That’s why we decided to call it the Octopus Ink Heteroxenia.
The brand new Octopus Ink Heteroxenia is for sale right now on Liveaquaria.com. I have some Pumping Xenia in my home aquarium that I find to be relatively hardy and fast-growing, so you can bet I’ll soon be buying one of these beauties.
Leave a comment and tell us what you think of the new Octopus Ink Heteroxenia.
Related Posts:
- Corals Bright as the Sun
- Quarantine Aquariums – More Than Just Disease Prevention
- Seahorse, Of Course
{ 1 trackback }
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I’ve been amazed at how well the pumping xenia have thrived in my 30 gal reef setup here in my office. I was a little worried when I first transferred them to the aquarium because they were limp and seemed lifeless, but after a day or two they looked good as new. Nothing seems to phase them. I just wish I had had them sooner (and maybe a few of those octopus ink ones to mix with these)!