Pearl Bubble Coral

Care at a glance

Overview

It does best under lower light than most LPS, roughly 75–150 PAR, with gentle, low to moderate flow that will not blow its small vesicles around. Place it in a shaded lower or mid spot with room around it, since its nighttime sweeper tentacles are potent and can reach and damage corals placed downstream. Feeding is optional since it draws most of its energy from light, but it will take fine meaty foods after dark once the tentacles emerge. Keep water quality stable, since it tolerates swings less well than the closely related Plerogyra.

In the wild

Physogyra lichtensteini lives in shaded lagoons, caves, and the protected undersides of reef slopes across the Indo-Pacific, conditions with low light and gentle water movement. Colonies form meandering plates studded with clusters of small, teardrop-shaped vesicles that pack far more densely than the larger bubbles of its relative Plerogyra. In the aquarium it wants a similarly shaded, calm spot low to mid in the tank where those clustered bubbles are not disturbed.

Good to know

Physogyra lichtensteini is the only species in its genus and, like Plerogyra, belongs to the family Plerogyridae. It is told apart from Plerogyra sinuosa by its smaller, far more numerous vesicles, only 3–5 mm across compared with the roughly 1–2.5 cm bubbles of Plerogyra, and by a skeleton that forms broad plates rather than tall winding ridges. It leans heavily on its zooxanthellae and, like other bubble corals, only reveals its true feeding tentacles once the bubbles deflate at night.

Did you know

Even though its bubbles are only a few millimeters across, a mature Physogyra colony can carry hundreds of them clustered together, giving it a denser, pearl-studded look next to the larger, looser grapes of Plerogyra.

Related species

• 

  Bubble Coral

  Plerogyra sinuosa

  11.8 in (30 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)

• 

  Donut Coral

  Acanthophyllia deshayesiana

  9.8 in (25 cm)11 gal (40 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Leaf Coral

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

• 

  Lettuce Coral

  Pavona varians

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

• 

  Lobed Brain Coral

  Lobophyllia

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