Acropora hyacinthus

Acropora hyacinthus (6) starting to table Reefscapers Maldives

Coral Description

Taxonomy:

Kingdom: Animalia >> Phylum: Cnidaria >> Class: Anthozoa >> Order: Scleractinia >> Family: Acroporidae

Appearance:

  • Wide flat plates/tables or tiered groups of small plates
  • Branches are thin and delicately structured unless in exposed environments where they will fuse for strength
  • Branchlets fine and upward projecting

Colour: Cream, brown, green, purple/blue, pink.

Axial Corallites:

  • Distinct
  • Not exsert

Radial Corallites:

  • Cup shaped
  • Form rosette pattern

Similar species: Known to intergrade with other species and can be difficult to distinguish. A. cytherea branchlets have exsert axial corallites and radial corallites are not arranged in a rosette. A. spicifera has more robust branchlets.

Habitat:  Very abundant on exposed outer reef slopes.

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