Cat's Paw Coral

Care at a glance

Overview

Sessile and passive: it has no sweeper tentacles and essentially no defense against other corals, so it must be given personal space rather than relying on it to hold ground. It is more forgiving of general conditions than Acropora, which makes it a common step-up SPS, but like all stonies it wants stable alkalinity, calcium and low nutrients.

In the wild

A branching SPS coral that grows thick fingers with blunt, rounded tips, the shape that earns it the cat's paw and club finger names. It likes moderate to high light, roughly 300 to 400 PAR, and moderately strong, alternating or intermittent flow. Place it in the mid to upper tank with space around it. Fuzzy polyps extend across the branches when it is settled and happy.

Good to know

Stylophora pistillata is a zooxanthellate SPS coral in the family Pocilloporidae, closely related to Seriatopora and Pocillopora. It is one of the hardier SPS genera and is a heavily studied model organism in coral biology, appearing in a great deal of research on calcification, bleaching and reproduction.

Did you know

Stylophora pistillata is one of the most researched corals in science, used worldwide as a laboratory model, so much of what reefkeepers know about how corals build skeleton and respond to warming water comes from studies on this exact species.

Related species

• 

  Birdsnest Coral

  Seriatopora hystrix

  5.9 in (15 cm)20 gal (75 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Cauliflower Coral

  Pocillopora damicornis

  9.8 in (25 cm)20 gal (75 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Blastomussa

  Blastomussa merletti

  5.9 in (15 cm)11 gal (40 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Blastomussa wellsi

  Blastomussa wellsi

  5.9 in (15 cm)20 gal (75 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Chili Coral

  Nephthyigorgia

  5.9 in (15 cm)20 gal (75 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Flower Tree Coral

  Scleronephthya

  5.9 in (15 cm)20 gal (75 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)