Characters: Colonies have a wide range of forms from compact bushes to tables. They seldom exceed 0.5 metres across. Axial corallites are small. Radial corallites are usually a mixture of sizes and are strongly appressed and swollen, with small openings.
Colour: Cream, brown or yellow, sometimes brown with purple branch tips and cream radial corallites, a colour commonly shared by A. secale and A. nana.
Similar Species: Acropora nana and A. variabilis. Acropora cerealis and A. nasuta are similar but the strongly appressed radial corallites of A. valida are distinctive.
Habitat: A wide range of reef environments and rocky foreshores.
Abundance: Sometimes common.
Taxonomic Note: A species complex.
Taxonomic References: Veron and Wallace (1984); Wallace (1999); Veron (2000a); Wallace, Done and Muir (2012);
Identification Guides: Veron (1986a); Nishihira and Veron (1995); Pillay, Terashima, Venkatasami et al. (2002); Fenner (2005); Turak and DeVantier (2011b);
