Characters: Colonies consist of dense thickets of short upright tapered branches. Colonies may form extensive single-species stands in shallow water. Axial corallites are exsert and tubular. Radial corallites are irregular in size and tubular, with sharp-edged lips giving colonies a spikey appearance.
Colour: Uniform pale or dark brown wich white corallites.
Similar Species: Acropora yongei which has thinner tapered branches which are primarily prostrate. See also A. pectinatus.
Habitat: Shallow reef environments.
Abundance: Usually uncommon.
Taxonomic Note: Wallace (1999) considered this species as 'unresolved', having been unable to locate a type specimen at the MNHN. Our current assessment is based on a specimen at MNHN labelled as Madrepora haimei that appears to be part of the Milne Edwards and Haime collection. It fits the original description, and matches a species widely distributed across the western Indian Ocean as illustrated here..
Taxonomic References: Scheer and Pillai (1983); Veron (2000a);
