Picture of the Week, Melting Chalice Coral

Pictured in this installment of the AquaNerd Picture of the Week is a unique form of reproduction found in chalice corals. As can be seen in the photo, the coral appears to be melting away, with a large chunk peeling away from the parent colony. Fortunately, this isn’t quite the case. When a chalice, and many other LPS corals, grow to a drop off point, it’s not uncommon for gravity to pull some of that tissue downward as the coral expands. The tissue stretches out, eventually breaking and depositing a piece of the coral in a new location. The coral tissue will then attach to the area where it drops to, eventually growing out into a separate colony of its own.