I wasn’t sure where to post my question although it’s not about ‘fish’ ID it still ends up here. There are many books available about reef fish, nudibranches, sharks etc, but I think hard and soft corals are as much interesting as fish and other small living creatures. Can anyone provide me with some title and author details of a good coral guide (encyclopedia) for coral identification?
Thanks - Bart

example - what species is shown on below image? I like to know these things

Hi Bart,

usually you buy Reef and Coral Books according to the
destination / waters you make or plan to make photos
in. So some directions to narrow your search and our
advice would be great to get you some help.

Unfortunately I do not own any KNOW IT ALL BOOK.

But on the Internet FISHBASE is a good project to help.

Hi Andreas,

Indeed the majority of the books are about selected regions. I am interested about the Indo Pacific region as I live in Cambodia now.
But I think a managed to find a book. Thanks for your tip as well.

Bart

That looks similar to a caribbean coral .. although I am sure there are similar ones throughout the world .. we have that in abundance in the shallows here in the Cayman Islands.

I am guessing here after a little bit of research online.
A type of Brain Coral Perhaps .. like Favia
http://www.corallibrary.info/showphoto.php?photo=300

I may be WAY off ... but I tried !

Interesting link that is, Andreas. Thanks for that!
You could be right with your species name.
Although, funny thing is when I started searching on the net I came up with this one: (Galaxea fascicularis)

But according to the database link it is complete different. Strange.

Your coral was in shallow water yes ?

the ones listed tend to be in deeper water .. I am not sure what yours is exactly ..  but we are on the right lines me thnks !

Sorry for the name mix-up in my former post, Giles. Anyhow - the image was indeed taken in shallow water. About 5 meters.

It’s pretty difficult to identify coral. Fish are better

tried sending you a PM

with a lack of answer coming from here I would suggest using wetpixel’s critter ID
http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showforum=23

you will likely get an answer within the same day if not in a few hours.

Giles