Acropora cuneata
Dana, 1846
Shows wide geographic variation and may be regionally indistinct.
Description: Colonies are solid plates or short flattened branches, usually without axial corallites. Multiple axial corallites, if present, are on branch margins. Corallites are smooth, rounded and not very exsert. The coenosteum is composed of fine spinules with elaborated tips.
Color: Pale cream or brown.
Habitat: Occurs in all reef environments, especially upper reef slopes and reef flats.
Abundance: Common, but less so than A. palifera.
Similar Species: Acropora palifera. See also A. crateriformis.
Source reference: Veron (2000). Taxonomic references: Veron and Wallace (1984), Wallace (1999). Identification guides: Veron (1986), Nishihira and Veron (1995).
Forming flat plates in a shallow environment exposed to strong wave action. Great Barrier Reef, Australia Photograph: Charlie Veron
Surface of a plate. Tonga Photograph: Gustav Paulay
Forming irregular branches on an upper reef slope. Vanuatu Photograph: Charlie Veron
Skeletal detail. Radial corallites on a flat plate.