wow shanna, yours really does look different than any i've seen. most of the shots at victoria's are more yellow and have less pink. pariot's own pic is probably the palest of all of them. craig's pic shows a hint of pink, but nothing as vivid as mine. i think the most recognizable feature of MU is the raised veins that almost look like ribs. you can see these clearly in the top right pad of the 1st pic below.
as for water temps, mine have been around 78-80 in the main pond for about a week. they dropped about 10 degrees yesterday with no sun coming out until around 5 pm. as i said, this is the second bloom of the season - the first one was not as vivid and did not open enough to make pic taking seem worthwhile.
here's day three - a bit paler but spread open a bit more as well. still not standing out of the water like it's supposed to.
