who in here have a Rhizotrochus?

[prattreef]

Just because you could and can get them doesn't mean they were legal. They weren't and still aren't. Whether they should be is another issue entirely.

 

[midtownman]

im sorry i didnt want to start any fueds in here, but the reason why i posted this was because on RC they got a tread on how ton take care of them

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Midtown, this is a great thread. Very informative in lots of ways.

 

[tunicata]

Yes, it is a good thread. Especially since last spring it was all the rage and I saw tons of well known websites and local folks selling them.
As much as I was on the boards I didn't find out it was even slightly sketchy until months after.

I had almost bought one in a group buy (Twice) before I was alerted, and the alert wasn't even made public. That's when I started doing my own research into what corals are allowed, following CITES regulations, etc.

There seems to be many issues regarding the various corals we have/want, including legal capture limits and methodologies.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

http://www.cites.org/

All should check it out at least once.

 

[GreshamH]

u hit the nail on the head !!!!!!!
Enough said

gee about 6 months to a yr u can buy them right off websites
pics/details and all

100% false

They have always been not listed on CITES and have always been by defacto illegal to own or posses in the US and punishable under the Lacy Act. Ignorance of the law is after all illegal or so I had a judge tell me in traffic court

 

[GreshamH]

Just because you could and can get them doesn't mean they were legal. They weren't and still aren't. Whether they should be is another issue entirely.

The man speaks the truth. You can buy a ton of stuff online that in the US is not legal. My spam box is filled with such solicitations

 

[NYreefNoob]

< can buy weed that doesnt make it legal :tongue1: and midtown they are pretty easy to care for, know someone who has had one for about 6 months so far { elegance coral } it gets feed twice a month, never understood the pricing for them cause they dont look that special, but seeing they are illegal can see why the price is the way it is.

 

[90reefernyc]

Is this what everyone is talking about?
http://phishybusiness.com/livestock/product_info.php?products_id=2500

 

[Chraddam]

http://www.cites.org/

All should check it out at least once.

Very interesting Brendan...I doubt I will sleep tonight...

 

[Alfredo De La Fe]

Beautiful coral...

As for legality... There are always ways around these things, but I try not to find shortcuts or loopholes. There are plenty of beautiful corals which are perfectly legal and easy to purchase without taking risks.

I know several people that have sold/purchased SPS and LPS corals from the carib., technically illegal, but all of the aquacultured live rock sitting on the ocean floor in Florida has coral growing on it. Technically they are supposed to remove them before selling the rock, but this is just plain stupid.

Alfred

 

[Acro76]

Not sure what "list" you speak of but the deal with them is no country that has them in their waters have any CITES quotas for them and with the US being a CITES member nation, we are not allowed to import them. Any that are have been smuggled and the smuggler and even the one possessing them can be convicted using the Lacey Act.

That might be true if these were bald eagles, and you could easily identify them...

Truth is most US fish and wildlife agents know very little about coral identification. Couple that with overseas vendors who also know very little, and language barriers... Well some Rhizo's will just come in every year as a component of stony coral collection, and are cleared by US Customs and US Fish and wildlife. Are they legal, technically no, but they were not smuggled, just mis-identified, possibly at several steps in collection, export, and importation. Are Rhizo's smuggled on purpose? Probably so by a few wholesalers who knew they could get away with it.

CITES was developed to track corals and put limits on collection of a threatened or easily over-exploited (not necessarily endangered) resource. I have not found any reasons why Rhizotrochus are not a CITES listed species, probably just due to not enough information on natural distribution and populations in the wild.

There are many other cryptic stony corals that have no CITES that come in on live rock every week, or are collected on rock with other target corals. But nobody cares about these since they don't sell for big bucks, or they are just too small to be noticed.

Just my opinion, but I think its a big deal about nothing. There are so few of these corals coming in, it is not the big scandal it's been made out to be.

I think more attention should be paid to Ricordea rock smuggling from OUR natural resources in the keys. Or illegal Cuba Ricordea rock coming from Canada. And the practice I still see on occasion of several Blastomussa wellsi colonies being glued to one rock and passed off as one colony.