Normal for a cynarina coral? Can I trim it?

[lizzyann]

I just received a cynarina coral from liveaquaria diver's den. It wasn't obvious in the original photo but this thing has a huge 3-4in long skeleton! Is this normal? Is this even its skeleton or just debris or rock that it's attached to? 

 

 

That definitely can't be buried in the 1 inch sandbed in my tank and I don't think I'll really love the look of it above the sand. Definitely resembles a petrified piece of 💩 to me! 😂

 

Is it safe to trim/saw off a portion of the bottom of the skeleton so that it can sit upright buried in the sand?

 

It's still acclimating now so I can take better pics later, but thought I'd go ahead and start trying to figure this out!

[jservedio]

When it comes to dead skeleton or attached rock, as long as there is no flesh growing over it, you can cut it off. The main thing to be careful about is being sure not to damage the skeleton that the flesh is attached to, so make sure you have the proper tool for the job.

 

I can't tell how big it is from the picture, but if I were going to be cutting something fairly thick close enough to the flesh where a crack would damage the coral, I'd probably use the dremel instead of the bone cutters.

[ReeferWade]

I second that, my head is bigger than that one and the stem is much shorter so I think you'd be fine dremeling a bit of that off. 

[mcarroll]

Seems like an ideal shape to wedge into some pieces of live rock.

 

According to this you have a normally-shaped free-living specimen....it grew that way on purpose:

http://www.coralsoftheworld.org/species_factsheets/species_factsheet_summary/cynarina-lacrymalis/

 

Cut only if you really have to imo.