Devil's Aura Zoanthus aka Red Hornet

Price is for 7 polyps. Pictures are of original mother colony. The 7-polyp frag came from this original colony. With it, you get a cheesy real story behind it!

The Curse of the Devil's Aura (By Thai T. and Alfred R.)

If you are not into named corals, drama, or the supernatural; then I suggest you stop reading. What you are about to read may disturb you, if you believe in superstition (or cannot decipher sarcasm). The tale to be told is based on truth, yet is tall, nonetheless.

The story starts like every story, normal. A hobbyist enters Neptune Aquatics interested in selling a coral by consignment. The hobbyist sets the price and it surprises the proprietor of Neptune's a bit. "The price seems high but let's give it shot," thought the owner. The hobbyist will remain unnamed, you can call him "The Nameless One" but the author of this story still does not know the true owner of the coral. The owner of Neptune's still says that day was hazy in his memory. This was the first sign of something gone awry with those around this coral.

The coral in question is the beautiful Devil's Aura zoanthid. This is a stunning looking coral with a blue face, white mouth parts, and alternating skirt of orange and purple. But in the middle of the coral is a distinct RED halo. The juxtaposition of color and form are just too telling about what this piece does to young and old reefers. While the halo denotes angelic behavior, red is the main color of the underworld (if we are to believe all the cartoons from our childhood.) But what is truly demonic is the price. As of this writing, the price per polyp ranged between $150 and $200. But that is not what is interesting about this coral. What is interesting is the affect this coral puts people under.

On October 10th, 2009 the coral was stolen. But legend has it, that the Devil's Aura was not stolen, rather, it put an innocent reefer under a spell to abduct the piece from the comfortable spot in the frag tank. The author could only imagine as the halo grew bright red to hypnotize the reefer and the white mouth pulsated as it passed the message "Put me in your pants..... now....." The reefer had no choice but to put the coral in his pants. Nematocysts aside, the coral was safely in the reefers pants as it made its journey past the ever so diligent store owners. Never to be seen again, or so we thought.

Clearly distraught, the store owner comes to find out about the abduction that evening. Having the weight and musculature of a 14-year old boy the owner did the only thing he knew how. He yelled and screamed for about 20-minutes... His level-headed wife did what she knew how: She rallied the local reefing community. They blasted their newsletter, and spammed craigslist with pictures and videos of the kidnapper. They never expected it to be returned and even offered to not press charges if it's returned safely. They just wanted the coral back, no questions asked.

And the community rallied. The Devil's Aura's power of dualism had far reaching effects. Not only did the love come, but the hate, as well. Long-time patrons took it upon themselves to yell and scream on behalf of the owner. Part-time detectives creeped out of the woodwork, waiting patiently for the abductor to post it for sale. A few screamed bloody foul at the store owner, claiming this as a shameless marketing ploy to draw foot traffic to the store. All the while, the Devil's Aura relished in its synthesized duality. The Devil's Aura held ITS abductor captive. The abductor can no longer show his face in another local fish shop, frag swap, or Reef-Club-Round-Table-Pizza-Meeting: who kidnapped who? The plan put in motion by the Devil's Aura coral had come to fruition. It had succeeded in its quest deemed by its own contradictory existence. Red halo? Supporters and haters? Kidnapper now the captive?

The soft footsteps of the young man echoed loudly as the once-abductor re-entered the store to return the Devil's Aura. With his head held low, he had little recollection of the events that took place. He just knew that he had to complete the circle from evil to good. The Devil's Aura had released its hold on the young man less than 12-hours after the incident.

The reefing community was skeptical, then it rallied. The owner screamed, and the wife rationalized. The young man stole, then returned. The coral with devil in the name and halo in the center had done its job.

'Til this day, some say the hobbyist who put it up for consignment smelled like he came from a barbecue. Other say they saw him fly away on white wings. But that's all legend and heresay. What we do know is the gift he left for the reefing community can be seen as either a treasure or a curse.

The end!

09/23/09 UPDATE: This is a consignment item so stock is very limited. As of today, we no longer have any single polyp frag available. We do apologize for those that have been waiting. Hopefully, we'll have a few more polyps available from the consignee sometime next week. Please send us an email if you would like to be on our waiting list.

10/03/09 UPDATE: Latest pic uploaded. The pigmentation has developed a lot more intense!
10/19/09 UPDATE: Hi All...we're still waiting on additional single-polyp frags coming in. Next batch may be available next week. Unfortunately, due to very limited supply, we will be limiting the ship-out qty to 1 per customer until everyone on the list receive their first polyp. After which, the balance will be shipped.
11/02/09 UPDATE: We received 6 polyps total during the last several weeks. However, 3 of the 6 didn't handle the fragging well so they didn't make it. The three remaining polyps seems to be doing okay so far and we hope to have them shipped to the next three recipients during the next few weeks., Thanks for being patience!

Pending recipients:

1. MikeB
2. Johnnie G - 2 polyp
   
3. Doug C. - 1 Polyp
4.  Joe G. - 1 polyp (NCRC)
5. Travis F.
6. Alex