Ruffled Coral

Care at a glance

Overview

Plan on a mature 100 liter or larger reef with strong light and medium flow, placing it at mid height or higher on the rock. It is sensitive to swings in temperature, alkalinity, and nutrients, so keep parameters rock steady at 24 to 27 C, pH 8.1 to 8.4, and alkalinity 8 to 11 dKH, which makes it a coral for experienced keepers. It feeds largely through photosynthesis but benefits from fine plankton. Give it space because it extends sweeper tentacles after dark that can sting nearby corals.

In the wild

Starts as an encrusting crust and then grows into fan-shaped plates crossed by branching ridges that fan out from the center, giving it a ruffled, leafy look. Colonies are usually green, cream, or brown, with the ridges often a lighter shade than the valleys. The pattern of forking ridges separates it from smoother plating corals. It builds outward quickly once it takes hold in good conditions.

Good to know

Merulina ampliata belongs to the family Merulinidae and is a small polyp stony coral. The genus is named for the maze of meandering ridges, called collines, that run across the colony surface. Its skeleton grows as thin contorted plates that make it fairly fragile to handle.

Did you know

The forking ridges on its surface are the reason it is sometimes called the ruffled ridge coral, and no two colonies wear quite the same maze pattern.

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  Pectinia Coral

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