Acropora nasuta
Dana, 1846
This species shows wide geographic variation.
Description: Colonies are irregularly corymbose with elongate tapering branchlets. Axial corallites are tubular. Radial corallites are usually in neat rows and are distinctively nariform in shape.
Color: Cream or pale brown with blue branch tips (which may photograph pink), cream with brown corallites or greenish-brown with purple or blue corallites.
Habitat: All Acropora assemblages but especially those of upper reef slopes.
Abundance: Common.
Similar Species: Acropora cerealis, which has interlocking branches and radial corallites with flaring lips. Acropora valida has appressed radial corallites. See also A. latistella and A. subulata, which have smaller branchlets and corallites.
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). Identification guides: Veron (1986), Nishihira and Veron (1995).
A small colony in a lagoon. Great Barrier Reef, Australia Photograph: Charlie Veron
Showing side-on and end-on corallite detail of branches. Great Barrier Reef, Australia Photograph: Ed Lovell
A small colony exposed to moderate wave action. Madagascar Photograph: Charlie Veron
Showing side-on and end-on corallite detail. Great Barrier Reef, Australia Photograph: Ed Lovell
Skeletal detail. Axial and radial corallites.