Goniopora minor
Crossland, 1952
Description: Colonies are hemispherical or encrusting. Calices are circular in outline, with thick walls. There are usually six thick pali which are in contact, forming a crown. All septal structures are heavily granulated.
Color: Brown or green, usually with distinctively coloured oral discs and pale tips to the tentacles.
Habitat: Subtidal reef environments, especially lagoons.
Abundance: Common.
Similar Species: Goniopora tenuidens, which has blunt tentacles of uniform length.
Source reference: Veron (2000). Taxonomic reference: Veron and Pichon (1982). Identification guides: Randall and Myers (1983), Veron (1986), Sheppard and Sheppard (1991), Nishihira and Veron (1995).
Colonies are massive or lobed. Ningaloo Reefs, Western Australia Photograph: Charlie Veron
Colonies commonly have partly retracted polyps. Ryukyu Islands, Japan Photograph: Charlie Veron
A typically even cover of fully extended polyps. Houtman Abrolhos Islands, south-west Australia Photograph: Charlie Veron
Polyps have pointed tentacle tips. Great Barrier Reef, Australia Photograph: Ed Lovell
A carpet of tentacles. Calamian Islands, Philippines Photograph: Charlie Veron
Skeletal detail. Showing corallites.