Perplexing Euphyllia

[UpsideDownPumpkin]

So, when I bought this guy he was labelled as a two tone hammer. When I asked for it, I even said it out loud and nobody said any different. Since getting it home, I’ve noticed it’s not like my other hammer. It’s got very prominent almost Pom Pom style branches and doesn’t receed much at night. It also doesn’t seem to “relax” more during the day like my hammer and torch do. So I started looking much closer at it and I noticed the tentacle tips aren’t very hammer like, more round/oblong and on some, they seem to split off, like fingers on a hand if that makes sense. I’ve tried to take some photos of it but it’s difficult to get the camera to focus as it’s always moving (bubbling like a stew). 
 

I’ve done a bit of research and think it might be a frogspawn. Normally they’re more expensive/rarer in my LFS so I’d have thought they would have charged me more for it if it was but who knows. 
 

If it is, is there any different care needed from a hammer? I was hoping to move it up a bit if I could but I’ve got quite powerful LEDs. Also do I need to move it further away from the hammer and/or torch? I can’t see any damage to any of them. (Hammer to the left, torch to the right).

 

 

[Clown79]

Its a hammer. It goes by various names.

 

It likes moderate flow and low to moderate light. 

This particular hammer will go pale, loose its mottled look,  won't fully open in high light.

 

Hammers should be kept away from torches. Its fine next to frogspawn and other hammers.

[Mwil79]

Yup definitely a hammer. A splatter hammer coloring top which isn't super common I have one as well. Nice find. 

 

 

[5*Chris]

Looks like a Frammer

[RedCrow]

Looks like a Hammerspawn to me. A euphyllia that exists somewhere between a hammer and a frogspawn. These could be naturally accruing hybrids, or they could be a separate species. (A lot of coral species are unidentified) when it comes to corals, the lines between species are incredibly blurred. 

 

A good example of this within the euphyllia genus would be euphyllia cristata: it’s kind of a weird in between of hammers and torches. 

 

Edit: here's a ReefBuilders article about it.

[5*Chris]

Looks like a Frogmmer 😁 to me

[UpsideDownPumpkin]

11 hours ago, RedCrow said:

Looks like a Hammerspawn to me. A euphyllia that exists somewhere between a hammer and a frogspawn. These could be naturally accruing hybrids, or they could be a separate species. (A lot of coral species are unidentified) when it comes to corals, the lines between species are incredibly blurred. 

 

A good example of this within the euphyllia genus would be euphyllia cristata: it’s kind of a weird in between of hammers and torches. 

 

Edit: here's a ReefBuilders article about it.

Thanks for that, it was an interesting read! 

[UpsideDownPumpkin]

10 hours ago, 5*Chris said:

Looks like a Frogmmer 😁 to me

Think I’m going to name it Frogrammerspawn for short 😂

[UpsideDownPumpkin]

Thanks everyone for the help, I think I’m going to go with the middle ground of maybe it’s a cross and see how it takes to the tank.

[RedCrow]

7 hours ago, UpsideDownPumpkin said:

Thanks everyone for the help, I think I’m going to go with the middle ground of maybe it’s a cross and see how it takes to the tank.

The good news is the care for all euphyllia are basically the same 

[UpsideDownPumpkin]

28 minutes ago, RedCrow said:

The good news is the care for all euphyllia are basically the same 

I’ve popped him in my hammer garden, so he’s further away from the torch and out of the direct light. He seems much happier today so that’s good. 

[Clown79]

its not a cross between frogspawn and hammer.

 

It's a hammer that's been crossed with a green tip hammer and purple hammer. Giving it two tones.

 

Not all hammer species have the hammer head shapes.

 

This is a mottled hammer which often has roundish tips to slightly oval/hammer shape tips. Sometimes it has both intermixed.

[5*Chris]

Not really about the shape of the tips, but the fact that each tentacle has several tips...like a frogspawn. 

 

Either way, very nice looking Splatter Frammer or Splatter mottled Hammer or Splatter Frammer. OR..... Splatter Frogmottlemer😲🤦🏽‍♂️

[UpsideDownPumpkin]

It’s chill guys, I just wanted to know if the tips splitting/the different behaviour meant it needed different care from my other hammer, and if it needed moving away from the other hammer. It’s all good, it’s happier where I’ve moved it now.

[Tamberav]

On 10/20/2020 at 4:14 AM, UpsideDownPumpkin said:

Thanks everyone for the help, I think I’m going to go with the middle ground of maybe it’s a cross and see how it takes to the tank.

Fimbriaphyllia

 

https://reefbuilders.com/2019/02/12/have-you-ever-seen-a-frammer-fimbriaphyllia/