![An amazing colony of fused Australian Tricolor Brain Coral, Platygyra sp., was recently received by Carolina Aquatics. Download a version of this image as a desktop/wallpaper](https://www.coralmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Carolina-Aquatics-Tricolor-Fused-Platygyra-IMG_3305-Edit-desktop-1900-X-1200-1024x647.jpg)
FUSED TRICOLOR BRAIN CORAL
Platygyra sp.
Carolina Aquatics
Kernersville, North Carolina
carolinaaquatics.com
Geographic Origin: Australia
Light Level: Moderate
Flow Level: Moderate
Care Level: Easy
Arriving in early October 2020, this unique Australian Brain Coral has been turning the heads of everyone who sees it. “It’s corals like this that remind me why I don’t have a tank at home…it would be coming home with me,” says Kris Cline, owner of wholesale aquarium trade distributor Carolina Aquatics, based in Kernersville, NC.
![A closer look at the smaller coral in this "fused" colony; blue base, green ridges culminating in purple crests.](https://www.coralmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IMG_3309-Edit-900w.jpg)
“The coral took up almost an entire box,” according to Kline. This specimen is approximately 11 inches across and 6-7 inches wide, with an elevation change of about 3 inches; the coral has a “mountain range” of sorts rising into a mound, which is on the right-hand side of the coral as shown in the opening photo.
![In addition to the fused region of this colony, the larger coral also exhibits areas where the ridges have thickened, resulting in larger bright green highlights.](https://www.coralmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IMG_3312-Edit-900w.jpg)
The individual coral that is purple with green ridges dominates the colony, while a different specimen, green ridged but with a blue base, slashes through the larger coral, like striking a vein of gold in a rock formation. Kline noted that “They’re not chemically fighting, but they’re not merging.”
![The two corals have managed to form some sort of truce, although Cline believes that the larger individual has been slowly growing over the smaller one for many years. Download a version of this image as a desktop/wallpaper here:](https://www.coralmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IMG_3316-900w.jpg)
At the time of reporting, this coral is available through the wholesale aquarium trade to customers of Carolina Aquatics, which declined to speculate on a retail price for the colony.
See this, and many more jaw-dropping corals, in the Reef Visions column of the January/February 2021 edition of CORAL Magazine. Don’t miss it, subscribe or renew today.
Image credits: Jeremy Shenk/Carolina Aquatics
Does anyone else think this coral is just missing ‘Florida’?
and maybe Maine…