Identify Soft Corals with Octocoral Finder
Octocoral Finder is the latest Be Your Own Guide from coral identification specialist Russel Kelley. Following the acclaimed Indo Pacific Coral Finder, which deals exclusively in hard corals, Octocoral Finder tackles Indian and Pacific Ocean soft coral identification and includes softies, sea fans, whips, and pens to genus level.
Like the Coral Finder 2022, Octocoral Finder uses a Key Page based on what you can see in front of you, like branches or stalks, polyps, digits or rods, and then it takes you to the relevant section of the guide for a further up-close match. The coral naming is up to date and based on the molecular work by McFadden et. al. in 2022.
For divers, aquarists and industry professionals, it will prove both useful and enlightening, and I will definitely be ordering one.
Think of all the soft corals in circulation, and just how many we refer to as “Xenia”, “Finger Coral”, and “Kenya Tree.” Or what about the Gorgonians, both photosynthetic and Non-photosynthetic? Not many people even get to genus level on them.
Soft corals are also more resistant to climate change, are less impacted by collection, and use less energy once in aquaria in terms of light and flow. They could and should be more heavily focused on, and I for one know that as soon as my copy arrives, my passion for softies, seeking out, identifying and collecting them will be at an all-time high.
I can’t wait to share my learning with my fellow reefers as I can almost guarantee there will be mis-identified softies in my and everyone else’s tanks, and I’ll be ordering soft corals like a Boss from then on.
For pricing, more information, and to place an order, go to https://byoguides.com/products/octocoral-finder
Main image credit AlexeiAVA, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
