Blue Ridge Coral

The Blue Ridge Coral (Heliopora coerulea) is found throughout a wide area ranging from the Indo-Pacific to Australian and north to the Coral Sea and southwest Japan. This wide distribution is somewhat indicative of the resilience of this coral, which has made it well suited for the aquarium hobby. Blue Ridge Coral do so well within the aquarium environment that they are often produced via aquaculture. The overall hardiness of the Blue Ridge Coral makes it suitable for hobbyists new to reef aquariums and also allows it to be reproduced within the hobby, which lessens the need to collect it from the wild. While it looks like an SPS coral, the Blue Ridge Coral is actually soft coral that produces an aragonite based skeleton in which its polyps live. The polyps are inter-connected with a thin layer of fleshy tissue, which covers the entire surface of the coral. The coral grows in a variety of growth forms including branching, encrusting, plate and tubular forms. The coloration of the Blue Ridge Coral can also vary depending on the polyp extension and the body shape of the coral, with branching and encrusting often exhibiting more blue coloration than tubular formations. Both the corals multiple forms and varied coloration can make it somewhat difficult to identify this species at first glance. Blue Ridge Corals allow beginning reef hobbyists or hobbyists with only moderately lit aquariums to have a SPS-like coral without the more strict lighting and nutrient level requirements of SPS corals. Overall the Blue Ridge Coral is an excellent aquarium specimen that combines brilliant blue coloration, moderate lighting & water flow requirements along with an excellent track record of doing very well within the aquarium environment. [Read Aquarium Domain]