Acropora millepora
Ehrenberg, 1834
Description: Colonies are corymbose cushions, with short uniform branches. Axial corallites are distinctive; they are tubular in shape. Radial corallites are closely compacted and all the same size. They have prominent lower lips giving a scale-like appearance.
Color: Commonly green with orange tips, also a distinctive bright salmon pink, pale green or blue (which may photograph purple).
Habitat: Shallow water, usually reef flats, but also lagoons and upper reef slopes.
Abundance: Common.
Similar Species: Acropora convexa and A. prostrata. See also A. aspera, which has similar radial corallites but these are of two mixed sizes, and A. pulchra, which has smaller corallites of mixed sizes.
Taxonomic note: This species is divisible into several smaller semi-distinct taxonomic units. Source reference: Veron (2000). Taxonomic references: Veron and Wallace (1984), Wallace (1999, and as A. spathulata Brook, 1891, in part). Identification guides: Veron (1986), Nishihira and Veron (1995).
A corymbose colony with thick tapering branchlets in shallow water. Great Barrier Reef, Australia Photograph: Mary Stafford-Smith
Branches of a colony in shallow water. Great Barrier Reef, Australia Photograph: Ed Lovell
Usual appearance of an upper reef slope colony. Great Barrier Reef, Australia Photograph: Roger Steene
Colony on a protected reef slopes. Flores, Indonesia Photograph: Charlie Veron
Branch detail of colonies exposed to moderate wave action. Great Barrier Reef, Australia Photograph: Neville Coleman
Skeletal detail. Axial and radial corallites.