Friday, September 25, 2009

Aquaculture in Bali Part 7 - Acropora milleporas!

Hello everyone. For today I would like to talk about one of my favorite acropora species - the milleporas. The color and morph diversity of these gorgeous sps species is unbelievable in Indonesia. For sure the Indo millis are the best around. I know South Pacific counterparts from Fiji or Tonga cannot match up. Coincidentally the colors and morphs differ from different regions of Indonesia. The following collection is from Northern Bali, Serangan Island Bali, and the 1000 islands off of Java. These are the primary areas of Indonesia that have established aquaculture areas by the government. All the pictures are taken under t5's with no photoshopping. The corals themselves look much better under 20k halides though.

Before we get into the millis, let's talk about a strange and rare invert that was brought to my attention recently.

My supplier called me up and asked me if there was such a thing as a cocoworm that had no feathers, instead looking more like a snail. After I told him that there is no such thing as a "headless" cocoworm, my supplier jumped up and down telling me that it was a snail in a cocoworm's body. I asked how many pieces he had. He said that he only had 10 pieces but can get more. I told him to save all ten pieces and I would go take a look.

By gosh darn it! My supplier was right, it looked like a snail or a slug had made a home inside a cocoworm's empty shell. However upon close observation, it seemed that this snail or a slug or a nudibranch was meant to be housed in this calcareous circular shell. It never comes out to eat so how does it survive? All the snails and slugs that I know need to graze on something for nutrition.

After a night of observation, I was convinced that this strange animal never came out and nature intended it to be stationary. After doing some research I learned that this strange snail (it is a true snail) is called a worm shell. It secretes calcareous enzymes to make the shell and forms a web to catch plankton! Holy mackerel that is just too cool! Unlike most snails though, this cool little buddy lacks the operculum (the hard structure that snails use as a door to protect itself).
Wow, the mystery had been solved. But still what to call this new discovery? I have nick named it "spiderman worm", as it spins a web and lives in a tube like a worm.

Just tells you how diverse the reef life is in Indonesia. I must say that the worm shell is pretty rare as no one has seen it before in Indo. The fishermen who found it must have gotten lucky and found a small batch. I'm sure that we will see more of this very cool creature being available in the hobby soon!

One of the bread and butter acros in the hobby - the pink milli!

Insane blue and purple milli!

Yellow green with purple tips - nice!

Yellow green with bluish tips!

Pink purple raspberry milli - sweet!

Pink purple with blue tips - nice!

Dark purple with bluish tips - gorgeous!

Bright pink with yellow tips - 1000 island staple!

Green purple milli - way cool!

Purple raspberry milli - killer!

Branching purple blue milli - cool!

Cobalt blue milli - beautiful!

Strange corallites on this pink purple milli - stunning!

Pink purple milli - nice!

Purple blue branching milli - wow!

Yellow green blue with green polyps - sweet!

Purple blue milli - oh yah!

Pink branching milli - nice!

Blue milli - nice!

Purple blue milli - cool!

Green milli - typical and most abundant of all milleporas.

Green with orange corallites and green polyps - sizzling!

Super blue milli - killer!

From Northern Bali, blue green milli - nice!


Blue with cobalt blue tips - super!

Pink purple from Serangan - cute!

Cobalt purple and pink milli combo - sexy!

Pink and orange with green polyp - sweet!

Pink and purple mini colony milli - nice!

Strange blue milli stag - unusual growth pattern - tips are bright blue - sweet!

Purple blue milli - wow!

Raspberry purple milli - beautiful!

Red purple with blue tips milli - nice!

Blue/purple milli anyone? Nice!

Raspberry purple milli - sweet!

Sky cobalt blue milli - nice!

Raspberry purple milli - sweet!

Ultra super blue milli - gorgeous!

Purple blue milli - beautiful!

Raspberry blue tips milli - super!

Super blue milli - killer!

Raspberry blue tips milli - gorgeous!

Conclusion

Ok guys that is it for today and this post concludes the "Aquaculture in Bali" series. We will go back to some killer wild corals on the next post. I hope you have enjoyed my videos and pictures.

Cheers,
Eddie

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Eddie,

I apologize if this has been asked before and I missed it, but are your corals available for purchase through you or any immediate retailer?

I have been following your blog for some time now, and am astounded every update by the beauty and health of your corals.

If so I am extremely interested in any details.

Thanks again for such an outstanding blog and dedication to bringing only the best specimens to the reefing world.

Best Regards,
Sean

Eddie H. said...

Hey Sean,

Thanks for following my blog. Send me an e-mail at joylucktp2000@yahoo.com and I'll give you more info.

Cheers,
Eddie

Fish Tanks said...

You really know your stuff when it comes to aquatic life. These pictures are absolutely amazing! I wish I could transport them to my tank.

Viagra Prescription said...

Superb pictures my friend, its so nice that people take the time and take pictures of nature. Many people will only know these amazing creatures by pictures.

Aquaculture Northern Bali

November Corals Collection Part. 1

November Corals Collection Part. 2

Aquaculture - November Shipment

Coral Showcase - September 2008 Inventory

Holding Facility's Corals Collection Showcase 2007