831 species

Acropora intermedia

(Brook, 1891)

Acropora

Oken, 1815

Characters: Colonies have large upright cylindrical branches and may form stands more than 5 metres across. Horizontally fused basal branches are only developed in shallow water. Radial corallites are of mixed sizes and shapes and are rasp-like.

Colour: Cream, brown, blue, yellow and green. Individual colonies are uniform in colour except for the branch ends, which are pale.

Similar Species: Radial corallites are similar to those of Acropora robusta and A. abrotanoides, but these species have different growth-forms except in very shallow water. A. muricata, A. abrolhosensis and A. grandis may have similar growth-forms but corallite sizes and shapes are clearly distinct.

Habitat: Deep sandy lagoons to upper reef slopes.

Abundance: Common.

Taxonomic Note: A species complex. Most authors have called this complex Acropora nobilis after Veron and Wallace (1984) . See Wallace (1999) for details of the taxonomic history.

Taxonomic References: Wallace (1978); Veron and Wallace (1984) as Acropora nobilis; Wallace (1999); Wallace, Done and Muir (2012);

Identification Guides: Veron (1986a) as Acropora nobilis; Sheppard and Sheppard (1991) as Acropora nobilis; Nishihira and Veron (1995) as Acropora nobilis; Pillay, Terashima, Venkatasami et al. (2002) as Acropora nobilis; Turak and DeVantier (2011b);

COTW History since Veron (2000a)
  • Family: All families are currently under review
  • Genus/species: New name for existing species. Acropora nobilis sensu Veron (2000a) (including commentary and illustrations) is newly attributed to Acropora intermedia (Brook, 1891)