(Right picture by Lisa Page)

In the left picture the original colony I bought from a friend. It was moved from next to the weir where it was already colonising the glass.

The right picture is 17 months later and the glass behind and to the right has been encrusted.

Many of the upright branches are encrustations of vermitid snails. As the snail grows the hydro-coral encrusts the new growth.

I wanted to grow a particular shape that I had seen in the Red Sea so I attached a frag to half a sunken clam shell and placed the assemblage in a suitable current.

Unfortunately I reckoned without the Queen Conch which constantly bumbles about and uproots the shell in passing so the shaping is not proceeding as I would wish, that is in one plane.

The fuzzy appearance is due to the retractile dactylozooids or fine hairs extending from the skeleton. They are responsible for the capture of prey.