Characters: Colonies have thick laminar bases and blunt-ended columns which occasionally branch. Valleys are meandroid and sinuous. Septa are thick and fuse irregularly with each other and with the columellae. Columellae are composed of a few thick septal teeth. Tentacles are usually extended only at night and are long, tapering, and of uniform length.
Colour: Usually cream or yellow-brown.
Similar Species: Laminar Scapophyllia resemble Merulina but the latter have spreading, not parallel, valleys. See also Leptoria irregularis and Dendrogyra cylindrus.
Habitat: Usually found in partly turbid water such as around fringing reefs and in lagoons.
Abundance: Uncommon.
Taxonomic Note: Type species of Scapophyllia Milne Edwards and Haime, 1848.
Taxonomic References: Chevalier (1975); Veron and Pichon (1980); Veron (2000a);
Identification Guides: Veron (1986a); Nishihira and Veron (1995); Turak and DeVantier (2011b);
