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Open brain
Trachyphyllia sp.
Origin: Indo-Pacific
Description:
Open brain corals are often in circular shape with peaks and valleys with many folds. The outer lip of the coral usually has a somewhat different coloration than the inner section. It is in-between these two sections of flesh that it's feeding tentacles will emerge at night or during the day when food is present. A single specimen may have multiple mouths centered in the inner flesh, during feeding the tentacles catch food and direct towards these mouths.
These corals are often sold as either Wellsophyllia or Trachyphyllia though Trachyphyllia is the correct genus as the Wellsophyllia genus has been elminiated.
Lighting Requirements:
Open brain corals should be placed in at the bottom of a medium to high light tank. While they do not require extremely intense lighting, because they must be placed on the sand bed higher lighting is recommended for proper light penetration. Supposedly the red open brain corals require less lighting than other varieties though it is purely speculation.
Flow Requirements:
These corals prefer moderate to low flow due to their fleshy nature. Moderate flow can be beneficial in removing any sediment from landing on the corals leading to to tissue necrosis, but too much flow can easily irritate the flesh causing the coral to retract into it's skeleton.
Growth:
This coral will continue to grow outward from the original skeleton and mouth often growing several mouths with increasing folds in the flesh as it grows. Smaller specimens may not appear to have any folds and may just appear circular in shape.
Difficulty:
Medium
Rarity:
somewhat common
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