Characters: Colonies are free-living or attached, hemispherical or (rarely) have short thick columns. Calices have high walls which have a ragged appearance. Columellae are broad and irregular. Small satellite colonies often occur embedded in the living tissue of parent colonies. Polyps are of mixed sizes, the larger being elongate.
Colour: Pale brown or green, usually with green tentacle tips.
Similar Species: Goniopora pendulus, which forms larger colonies with polyps of equal size and does not form satellite colonies. See also G. lobata.
Habitat: Usually found free-living, on soft substrates.
Abundance: Usually uncommon, but conspicuous.
Taxonomic References: Veron and Pichon (1982); Veron (2000a);
Identification Guides: Veron (1986a); Sheppard and Sheppard (1991); Nishihira and Veron (1995); Turak and DeVantier (2011b);
