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Leptoseris coral

Leptoseris

Also known as Wrinkle Coral, Thin Plate Coral, Jack-O-Lantern Coral

SaltwaterCoral

Leptoseris coral (Leptoseris)
Benzoni, F. · CC BY 3.0

Care at a glance

Temperature
75–81°F
24–27°C
pH
8.1–8.4
Adult size
11.8 in
30 cm
Minimum tank
11 gal
40 L
Temperament
Mostly peaceful
Social behavior
Solitary
Swim level
Bottom
Difficulty
Medium
Breeding
Medium
Rarity
Common
Reef safe
Reef safe
Family
Agariciidae
Origin
Indo-Pacific reefs, including Hawaii and the Red Sea, with most aquarium colonies collected from Fiji, Tonga, the Solomon Islands and the Great Barrier Reef

Overview

Leptoseris carries sweeper tentacles that reach out roughly an inch, enough to irritate anything encrusting right up against it, so give it a little clearance even though it is not a heavy stinger. It is mostly photosynthetic and does not need target feeding, though it will take up fine zooplankton, amino acids and the dissolved nutrients in fish waste. It is popular for its metallic, fine-lined color patterns and strong fluorescence, and is often stocked and sold alongside true chalice corals for that reason even though it is not closely related to them. It frags easily by cutting the plate with a bandsaw or bone cutters, though gluing a thin fragment down takes a generous bead of gel superglue to hold well.

In the wild

Leptoseris grows across Indo-Pacific reefs, including Hawaii and the Red Sea, with most aquarium colonies collected from Fiji, Tonga, the Solomon Islands and the Great Barrier Reef, where it forms thin, folded, encrusting plates over rock. Several species in the genus are also among the deepest-living reef corals known, thriving in dim mesophotic water far below where most stony corals survive. In the tank it wants low to moderate light, roughly 50 to 125 PAR, making it one of the few plating corals suited to a shaded spot that would bleach an Acropora. Give it gentle to moderate flow on a sloped rock face or ledge at 24 to 27 C and pH 8.1 to 8.4, with room to spread without being crowded.

Good to know

Leptoseris is a small polyp stony coral in the family Agariciidae, sometimes called the thin plate coral for its delicate, folded, laminar growth. Some Leptoseris species hold the record for the deepest photosynthetic stony corals ever documented, collected as deep as 172 m, where they run on a tiny fraction of surface sunlight. It grows quickly for an encrusting stony coral, which is part of why it frags and spreads across rock so readily in captivity.

Did you know

The popular Jack-O-Lantern color form, with jet black flesh between glowing orange ridges, is what put this otherwise obscure genus on the map in the reef hobby, and its resemblance to a carved pumpkin is exactly where the name comes from.

Common questions

What size tank does a Leptoseris coral need?

A Leptoseris coral needs at least 11 gal (40 L). It spends most of its time in the bottom.

What temperature and pH does a Leptoseris coral need?

A Leptoseris coral is comfortable at 75–81°F (24–27°C) with a pH of 8.1–8.4.

How big does a Leptoseris coral get?

An adult Leptoseris coral reaches about 11.8 in (30 cm).

Related species