Blue Hornet
Zoanthus, a zoanthid. Beginner to keep, typical PAR 75–150, moderate flow.
Collector tier: rare, where the trade ranks it from common through grail. In stock at 9 surveyed shops on 2026-10-19.
A pale blue face ringed in yellow to green inside a dark blue outer disc, and a skirt that ALTERNATES in two stacked layers, dark blue below and yellow to neon green above. The alternation is what the name is about, and it is the part a photograph from directly overhead flattens away. Genuine blue is rare in zoanthids, which is most of the price.
Before you buy one
Photographed under heavy blues, dozens of zoas look blue. The test shot is white light: real Blue Hornets stay blue, imitators go grey-green. Ask for one from the side as well, because the stacked skirt is only visible at an angle, and a Purple Hornet, which is the usual near-miss, has no pale centre and a deep purple face, and its skirt alternates purple with yellow. (This line said the Purple Hornet's skirt was solid until 27 September 2026; two readable sources say it alternates purple and yellow.)
Keeping zoanthids
Low to middle rock, enough flow to keep detritus off the mat. Blue Hornet is beginner to keep at a typical PAR of 75–150 in moderate flow. A typical starting range for this type of coral, not measured on this one.
What Blue Hornet goes for
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 $11 to $20 per polyp, median $15, across 9 shops surveyed on 2026-10-19; the full sweep ran $4 to $31. Asking prices are what sellers want, not what buyers paid. On 2026-10-19 it was in stock at 9 surveyed shops: bcpcorals.com, coralsanonymous.com, cornbredcorals.com, deepreef.net, jasonfoxsignaturecorals.com, prestigeworldwidecorals.com, and 3 more.
Easily confused with
- Purple Hornet: No pale centre: a deep purple face with a gold ring, and yellow alternating with purple in the skirt.
- Red Hornet: The hornet pattern with a red ring on a dark purple face and an orange-red skirt.
- Rainbow Hornet: The same banded skirt, in orange, over a blue to purple face with a yellow ring.