Characters: Colonies are encrusting to massive with irregular corallites up to 9 millimetres diameter. Septa have large teeth and granulated sides. Paliform lobes are usually well developed. ‘Groove and tubercle’ formations are sometimes present.
Colour: Dark colours, usually reddish-brown with paler oral discs.
Similar Species: Goniastrea aspera, which has more regular corallites with less granulated, more evenly spaced septa. See also G. columella and Platygyra contorta.
Habitat: Rocky foreshores of temperate locations.
Abundance: Uncommon.
Taxonomic Note: Western Indian Ocean occurrences are possibly a separate species. Included in a new genus Paragoniastrea Huang, Benzoni and Budd, 2014 alongside both Favites russelli, which has similar morphological characters, and Goniastrea australensis which commonly forms sinuous valleys (Huang, Benzoni, Fukami et al., 2014) . Goniastrea deformis and Favites russelli both have well-defined corallites whilst G. australensis has centres in valleys which are often ill-defined.
Taxonomic References: Veron (1990a); Veron (2000a);
Identification Guides: Nishihira and Veron (1995); Turak and DeVantier (2011b);
