Acropora, Oken, 1815

Sola, Erwan, Silva, Isabel Marques da & Glassom, David, 2015, An annotated and illustrated checklist of species of the coral genus Acropora (Cnidaria: Scleractinia) from Vamizi Island, Mozambique, African Invertebrates 56 (3), pp. 807-807 : 815-817

Acropora branchi Riegl, 1995

Fig. 6

Colony growth form: Large tables with side or central attachment usually not circular but tiered or fractioned with different sections contorted in various directions sometimes with a thick columnar stalk. In Vamizi specimens, horizontal branches are fused into thick solid plates; branchlet formation is minimal, rather, the surface is covered with a mixture of axial and radial corallites.

Axial corallites: Outer diameter 1–3 mm; inner diameter 0.7–0.9 mm; mostly undistinguished except at edge of plates; large and dome shaped and thick walled with small round opening; primary septa are well developed, dentate and secondary absent or only visible as points.

Radial corallites: Numerous, variable in size, similar in shape to axials; primary septa are present strongly dentate, secondary septa are generally absent.

Coenosteum: Densely reticulate with spinules with elaborated tips, throughout.

Remarks: This species has high morphological variability (B. Riegl pers. comm.). Here, the identification is really based on the near-eXact fit of radial corallites characters to those described in Riegl (1995) and the fact that axial corallites are inconspicuous.

Figures

Fig. 6. Acropora branchi. Specimen number: VAM64. (A) live colony; (B) branch tip detail; (C) radial corallites; (D) coenosteum between corallites.