Characters: Colonies are massive, encrusting, hemispherical or columnar. In habitats exposed to strong wave action the surface is usually mounded. Corallites are immersed. The coenosteum has no elaborations.
Colour: Brown, cream or purple.
Similar Species: Montipora mollis, which has smaller, more widely spaced corallites. See also M. orientalis, which has inconspicuous corallites.
Habitat: Most reef environments.
Abundance: Common.
Taxonomic References: Veron and Wallace (1984); Veron (2000a);
Identification Guides: Veron (1986a); Nishihira and Veron (1995); Chan, Choi, McCorry et al. (2005); Fenner (2005); Turak and DeVantier (2011b);