Peacock Chalice Coral

Care at a glance

Overview

Give it a 100 liter or larger reef with moderate light and moderate to strong flow, placed on rock where debris cannot settle on the plates. Hold reef chemistry steady at temperature 24 to 27 C, pH 8.1 to 8.4, and reef range calcium and alkalinity. It is an easy chalice that runs mostly on light but takes small planktonic foods like rotifers and copepods after dark. Give it room since chalices can extend sweeper tentacles at night to defend territory.

In the wild

A plating chalice coral with a smooth skin dotted by raised corallites that tilt outward like little noses or eyes, all pointing toward the colony edge. It grows as thin plates much like a montipora cap and can cup upward at the rim as it matures. Colors are often green, red, orange, and purple, with the raised eyes lit up in contrasting tones. The tilted corallites are the reason for the elephant nose nickname.

Good to know

Mycedium elephantotus is one of three main chalice genera in the family Merulinidae, along with Echinophyllia and Oxypora. Older references placed it in the family Pectiniidae, which has since been folded into Merulinidae. It is a large polyp stony coral that both photosynthesizes and captures plankton.

Did you know

Chalice corals like this one are prized for the glowing eyes scattered across the plate, and rare color combinations sell under a long list of designer trade names.

Related species

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  Ruffled Coral

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  Pectinia Coral

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