Skeleton and Polyp Detail

10.3.05 3 more galleries for your viewing pleasure: Acro Macros, Pavona Macros and Misc Macros.

9.25.05 Check out the new Octocoral Gallery

The days when the "experts" claim that species level identification of stony corals is impossible may be numbered. Even though the ecological concept of a species is still debated, with proper examination of skeletal and polyp detail we can get pretty close to identifying the taxonomically accepted characteristics of coral species. Previously, examination of key species characteristics involved the removal, preparation and microscopic examination of coral skeleton. In Oglevision, it is now possible to view many of these characteristics in living corals and we might eventually be able to take note of details that taxonomists have previously overlooked.