Flower Pot Coral

I purchased these two specimens at rock bottom prices ($12 apiece) from a guy who purchased them in bulk, but by accident. They have a reputation for being difficult to keep, but I found that out too late. The first image shows a sphere like specimen, with numerous holes from which the polyps extend.

This is the second specimen, a more irregular shape, again with holes from which polyps will extend. A purple tipped elegance is at the left.

Here is the first specimen, with extended polyps. The specimen is about 3-4 inches in diameter, and the polyps can become as large as 5 inches long. The result is that the internal "sphere" is totally lost in the lush forest of polyps. Yellow fiji polops can be seen in the foreground.

The polyps from the second specimen, which is also completely hidden under their stalks.

A close-up of the polyps. You can see that they appear to join completely at the base (a different view than that seen in the first two pictures), that the polyps are extremely long, and tipped with a feeding aparatus.

The second specimen, fully extended, with yellow fiji polyps in the upper right and a bubble coral on the right.