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 : 817

Acropora clathrata (Brook, 1891)

Fig. 8

Colony growth form: Thick flattened branches spreading horizontally giving tabulate or plate-like colonies with single or tiered plates; irregularly anastomosed main branches have variable degree of fusion, but central older parts of the colony are often completely fused into a solid plate; Vertical branchlets are absent.

Axial corallites: Usually not well defined on branch tips eXcept plate’s margins where there may be more than one; they are tubular with round opening and thick wall; primary septa are conspicuous, but second cycle absent.

Radial corallites: Wide variety of shapes and sizes; they may be exsert or sub-immersed; tubular, nariform or tubular appressed with round or dimidiate openings; radials are usually crowded and tend to be shorter or sub-immersed on the underside of branches; primary septa may be visible as points on longer corallites, but secondary septa are absent. Coenosteum: Costate on radial corallites occasionally dense rows of simples spinules; reticulate with scattered spinules between corallites.

Figures

Fig. 8. Acropora clathrata. Specimen number: (A, C–E) VAM20; (B) VAM26. (A) live colony; (B) plate surface; (C) branch fragment; (D) radial corallites; (E) coenosteum between corallites.