Mystic Sunset Montipora sp. Example Fragment. The incredibly intense orange
pigmentation of the Mystic Sunset Montipora can be seen within this image. The coral can
also develop large verrucae or bumps on its surface. The Blue tipped polyps are plainly visible.
A Sunset Montipora with Blue Polyps ! That describes the new Mystic Sunset found by
Chris DiPasquale from Reef Works located
in Lake Mary Florida. Chris originally received this coral in a transshipment from Australia and
initially the coral had a faded orange base coloration with brown polyps. Within two weeks the coral
started to develop its Mystic Blue polyps. The corals growth form is encrusting massive and it can
develop very large verrucae or bumps on its surface. What makes the blue polyps more unique or
mystic is that only half of the polyps tentacles seem to develop the blue pigmentation. At least
at this point in time, only half of the tentacles of each polyp has turned blue. Reeffarmers
received our seed fragment directly from Chris at Reef Works. It should be noted however that we
originally heard about this amazing new coral from Victor of World Wide Corals and Jose Casas.
Steve Tyree is maintaining a seed section of this coral for Reeffarmers.com in an 80 gallon
naturally filtered BiZonal system. This system is naturally filtered with a semi-cryptic zone and a
reef flat exposed zone. In Steve's captive reef the coral is positioned to receive moderate to weak
light levels from a 400 watt 20,000 K Radium metal halide. The coral appears to develop its best
combination of colors when exposed to weak to moderate light levels. We believe that more blue will
develop on the polyp tentacles in stronger light levels. Price is currently $64 (updated Aug 2012)
per small fragment.
Mystic Sunset Montipora sp. Reeffarmers Seed Colony.
The coral develops a base orange pigmentation when healthy. The color and characteristics
of this pigment development is very similar to the orange pigment within the Sunset Montipora.
The corals growth form is encrusting massive which can be seen in thuis image in new growth regions.
Mystic Sunset Montipora sp. Reeffarmers Seed Polyp Closeup.
Note how typically one half of the corals tentacles develop the blue pigment.
This is very unusual and seems to be an established trait of the Mystic Sunset Coral.