Tubastraea micranthus is extremely rare at Kwajalein. In 30 years and multiple thousands of dives there, we saw two colonies. One was perhaps one meter tall, growing out from a slight overhang at about 20-25m on the western seaward reef of Kwajalein Island. The second was a very small young colony consisting of just a few polyps at about 20m on the seaward reef of Torouji Island. Under natural light, the coral looks dark green, so dark that it seems to suck up the light you shine on it. It takes an overexposing flash to give it some color, and then it looks mostly reddish brown. The first three photos show the larger colony, and the first was taken with a bright flash.
Natural lighting, no flash.
Close up of one branch. Some green is still seen around the edges.
The small colony at Torouji Island.
At Pohnpei, about 1000km west of Kwajalein, Tubastraea micranthus was common and formed large colonies. The photo below was taken there.
A small colony photograhed at Bali, Indonesia, shows more of the green color.
Created 5 December 2020