Acropora chesterfieldensis
Veron and Wallace, 1984
Description: Colonies are digitate clumps, sometimes forming large stands. Branches are not tapered and divide irregularly. All corallites are rounded, with thick walls. Axial and incipient axial corallites are large and dome-shaped. Radial corallites are short and appressed.
Color: Cream or yellow.
Habitat: Reef slopes and lagoons.
Abundance: Common on the Chesterfield Reefs and Norfolk Island, rare elsewhere.
Similar Species: Acropora ocellata, which has smaller axial corallites and more compact radial corallites. See also A. arabensis which has radiating branches and A. bushyensis which does not have appressed radial corallites.
Source reference: Veron (2000).
A large thicket in a lagoon. Norfolk Island, western Pacific Photograph: Charlie Veron
Side view of branchlets. Norfolk Island, western Pacific Photograph: Charlie Veron
A corymbose colony. Chesterfield Reefs, Coral Sea Photograph: Ed Lovell
Skeletal detail. Axial and radial corallites.
Axial corallites. Norfolk Island, western Pacific Photograph: Charlie Veron