Octospawn Coral

Fimbriaphyllia yaeyamaensis

Also known as Euphyllia yaeyamaensis, Octospawn

SaltwaterCoral

Octospawn Coral (Fimbriaphyllia yaeyamaensis) — Biota · Used with permission

Care at a glance

Temperature: 75–81°F (24–27°C)
pH: 8.1–8.4
Adult size: 7.9 in (20 cm)
Minimum tank: 20 gal (75 L)
Temperament: Mostly peaceful
Social behavior: Solitary
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: Medium
Rarity: Common
Reef safe: Reef safe
Origin: Indo-Pacific
Family: Euphylliidae

Overview

Give it moderate light around 80 to 150 PAR and low to moderate indirect flow, placed on the sandbed or lower to middle rockwork. Like its relatives it sends out stinging sweeper tentacles, so leave about 6 inches of space from non-Euphylliid neighbors, though it usually sits peacefully next to hammer, frogspawn and torch corals. Target feeding once or twice a week is optional, and colonies are propagated by cutting individual heads from their branches.

In the wild

Octospawn grows on protected Indo-Pacific reef slopes and in turbid lagoons, often alongside hammer and frogspawn corals. Each head sits on its own branch of skeleton, and the fleshy tentacles end in tips that split into a cluster of small points, giving the colony a look partway between a frogspawn and a hammer. It does best in the same calm, stable water the rest of the family prefers.

Good to know

Fimbriaphyllia yaeyamaensis is a large polyp stony coral in the family Euphylliidae, described from the Yaeyama Islands of southern Japan. It was long sold as Euphyllia yaeyamaensis before taxonomists moved it, along with hammer and frogspawn, into Fimbriaphyllia, leaving only the torch coral in Euphyllia. It hosts symbiotic zooxanthellae that supply most of its energy, topped up by capturing meaty particles.

Did you know

The name octospawn comes from the way each tentacle tip splits into roughly eight small points, a detail hobbyists use to tell it apart from frogspawn at a glance.