Acropora, Oken, 1815

Sola, Erwan, Silva, Isabel Marques da & Glassom, David, 2015, An annotated and illustrated checklist of species of the coral genus Acropora (Cnidaria: Scleractinia) from Vamizi Island, Mozambique, African Invertebrates 56 (3), pp. 807-807 : 832

Acropora monticulosa (Brüggemann, 1879)

Fig. 22

Colony growth form: Digitate with short stubby branches tapering to small axial corallite. Axial corallites: Outer diameter 3.8 mm; inner diameter 1.0 mm; conspicuous but not eXsert; thick wall and small opening with two cycle of well defined blade-like septa.

Radial corallites: They are similar in size and shape, usually aligned in rows down the branch; short and tubular, they are touching on branch, thick walled with round opening, sometimes slightly dimidiate toward tips; septa are present in two cycles.

Coenosteum: Densely reticulate throughout; very irregular costae may form on radial corallites.

Remarks: This specimen was distinguished from A. humilis by its much smaller axial corallite and thicker branches. It also slightly shorter radial corallites that are uniform in size down the branch, in opposition to their increasing size in A. gemmifera ( Veron 2000). Radial corallites of A. monticulosa are also the less dimidiate of the A. humilis group ( Wallace 1999), giving a smoother appearance to the colony.

Figures

Fig.22.Acropora monticulosa.Specimen number:VAM73.(A) live colony; (B) branch fragment; (C) axial corallite; (D) radial corallites; (E) coenosteum between corallites.