Acropora latistella
Brook, 1891
This species shows wide geographic variation. Red Sea colonies are especially distinct.
Description: Colonies form corymbose plates or clumps. Branchlets are thin and delicate, straight or uniformly curved. Axial corallites are usually distinctive. Radial corallites have a rosette arrangement, are usually in rows and are appressed with rounded openings. Tentacles are usually extended during the day.
Color: Uniform pale cream, grey or brown, sometimes green or purple. Branch ends are sometimes yellow.
Habitat: A wide range of environments, especially shallow turbid water.
Abundance: Common except in the central and western Indian Ocean where it is only known from a few records.
Similar Species: Acropora subulata has radial corallites that are tubular and appressed without rounded openings or a rosette arrangement. Acropora valida and A. nana have longer radial corallites which are completely appressed. See also A. dendrum.
Source reference: Veron (2000). Taxonomic references: Veron and Wallace (1984), Veron and Hodgson (1989), Wallace (1999). Identification guides: Veron (1986), Nishihira and Veron (1995).
Side-attached plates. Calamian Islands, Philippines Photograph: Charlie Veron
Plate surface. Houtman Abrolhos Islands, south-west Australia Photograph: Charlie Veron
Corallite detail. Calamian Islands, Philippines Photograph: Charlie Veron
Typical appearance of a plate edge. Great Barrier Reef, Australia Photograph: Ed Lovell
Skeletal detail. Axial and radial corallites.