Palythoa, a zoanthid. Beginner to keep, Typical PAR 75–150, moderate flow.
Also sold as AOG.
Rarity tier: rare, reviewed 2026-08.
Palythoa, not Zoanthus: larger, tougher polyps with a metallic red striped oral disc, a white mouth, and a pale platinum to blue skirt. The red runs orange to pink depending on lighting and the bluish centre comes and goes with it, so the striping and the white mouth are steadier than the hue.
Palythoa polyps are noticeably bigger and meatier than zoas at the same age. Handle with gloves: this one in particular is documented as carrying high levels of palytoxin, and vibrio in its mucus.
Low to middle rock, enough flow to keep detritus off the mat. Armor of God is beginner to keep at a typical PAR of 75–150 in moderate flow. A typical starting range for this type of coral rather than a measured requirement for this morph. Spectrum, how it was acclimated and the system it grew in all move it.
No verified sales yet. A range publishes once 3 dated, checkable records from 3 different sources exist, priced per polyp and reported as a median, with what shops ask kept separate from what buyers paid. One polyp, so a ten-polyp frag is divided by ten. Listings that do not state the count are dropped rather than assumed. Nothing on this page is for sale. Shops are typically asking $14 to $18 per polyp, median $18, across 5 shops surveyed on 2026-09-07; the full sweep ran $10 to $25. Asking prices are what sellers want, not what buyers paid. On 2026-09-07 it was in stock at 5 surveyed shops: prestigeworldwidecorals.com, reefloungecoral.com, theaquariumcove.com, tiacoral.com, vividaquariums.com.