Slipper Coral

Care at a glance

Overview

Set it on open sand in a 150 liter or larger reef with moderate light and gentle flow, keeping it off sharp rock that could cut the underside. Standard reef chemistry works, with temperature 24 to 27 C, pH 8.1 to 8.4, and stable calcium and alkalinity. It is fairly easy given good placement, but it wants regular feeding of mysis and fine meaty foods dropped onto the tentacles. It can sting corals it touches, so keep a gap around it on the sand bed.

In the wild

A free-living coral shaped like an elongated slipper or tongue, covered across its whole upper surface in short shaggy tentacles that hide hundreds of tiny mouths. It sits loose on the sand rather than attaching to rock and stays flexible and low. Colors are usually tan, green, or gray with paler tentacle tips. Wild colonies can stretch to around 75 cm, though aquarium specimens are typically smaller.

Good to know

Polyphyllia talpina is a free-living member of the family Fungiidae, the same group as the round Fungia plate corals. Rather than one central mouth it has many mouths spread across the surface, a trait it shares with its close relative Herpolitha. It hosts zooxanthellae and also feeds through the dense carpet of tentacles.

Did you know

Every one of the shaggy tentacles covers its own tiny mouth, so the whole top surface of the coral is essentially one big feeding sheet.

Related species

• 

  Long-Tentacle Plate Coral

  Heliofungia actiniformis

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

• 

  Mobile Plate Coral

  Cycloseris

  3.1 in (8 cm)20 gal (75 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Plate Coral

  Fungia

  7.9 in (20 cm)11 gal (40 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Chalice Coral

  Echinophyllia

  13.8 in (35 cm)20 gal (75 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Turbinaria Cup Coral

  Turbinaria

  13.8 in (35 cm)20 gal (75 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Shoulderblade Coral

  Pavona clavus

  19.7 in (50 cm)26 gal (100 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)