These unique animal colonies bear a spectrum of colors. Many varieties enjoy a symbiotic relationship with the microalgae zooxanthellae. This algae, as with the stony corals, lives within the tissue of the coral polyp. And, as with the hard corals, the algae partners give a greenish or brown hue to the coral. Some Gorgonians sport their brightest color in their living tissues, others in their skeletal stalks.
Colors range from greens and yellows to breathtaking reds and purples.
These corals do not go through the shock that sets back so many of the collected Gorgonians. When we first visited the rock farmers in Florida in 1994 we were able to visit Dale Barger as he was starting to stock his aquaculture rock farm with premium honeycomb limestone from the Bahamas. We visited several of the live rock collectors who were harvesting Florida rock at that time and we were most impressed with Dale Barger's rock because of the heavy growth of sponges and other invertebrates. Dale was planting his rock farm at the same time our friend Tom Frakes was planting his farm in Florida. Much of this aquaculture rock is now over five years old and it is beautiful.