Acropora hyacinthus

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Characters: Colonies are wide flat plates and tables or tiered aggregations of small plates. Branches are thin and finely structured except where exposed to wave action, when they become closely fused. Branchlets are fine and upward projecting. Axial corallites are distinct but not exsert. Radial corallites are cup-shaped and form rosettes. Colour: Uniform cream, brown, grey or green with or without blue (which may photograph pink) growing margins. Similar species: See Acropora cytherea, A. spicifera and A. tanegashimensis. Habitat: Upper reef slopes and outer reef flats. Abundance: One of the most abundant corals of exposed outer reef slopes of much of the western Pacific.

Taxonomic note: This species is divisible into several smaller semi-distinct taxonomic units. Source reference: Veron (2000). Taxonomic references: Veron and Wallace (1984), Wallace (1999). Identification guides: Veron (1986), Nishihira and Veron (1995).