%20off.jpg){kind=small}
%20off.jpg){kind=small}
| Global distribution. This species shows wide geographic variation. |
| Skeletal detail. Axial and radial corallites. |
| A small colony exposed to moderate wave action. Madagascar Photograph: Charlie Veron |
| Showing side-on and end-on corallite detail. Great Barrier Reef, Australia Photograph: Ed Lovell |
| Showing side-on and end-on corallite detail of branches. Great Barrier Reef, Australia Photograph: Ed Lovell |
| A small colony in a lagoon. Great Barrier Reef, Australia Photograph: Charlie Veron |
| Place the cursor over the small thumbnail images (at left and above) to show the caption for that image here. At the same time a larger version of that image will be visible below. For the same image in a separate window click your left mouse button once on that thumbnail image. |
.jpg)
.jpg)
Characters: Colonies are irregularly corymbose with elongate tapering branchlets. Axial corallites are tubular. Radial corallites are usually in neat rows and are distinctively nariform in shape. Colour: Cream or pale brown with blue branch tips (which may photograph pink), cream with brown corallites or greenish-brown with purple or blue corallites. Similar species: Acropora cerealis, which has interlocking branches and radial corallites with flaring lips. Acropora valida has appressed radial corallites. See also A. latistella and A. subulata, which have smaller branchlets and corallites. Habitat: All Acropora assemblages but especially those of upper reef slopes. Abundance: Common.
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).
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
