Noble Staghorn Coral

Appearance

Characters: Colonies have large upright cylindrical branches and may form stands more than 5 metres across. Horizontally fused basal branches are only developed in shallow water. Radial corallites are of mixed sizes and shapes and are rasp-like.

Colour: Cream, brown, blue, yellow and green. Individual colonies are uniform in colour except for the branch ends, which are pale.

Naming

A species complex. Most authors have called this complex Acropora nobilis after Veron and Wallace (1984) . See Wallace (1999) for details of the taxonomic history.
Parent
Acropora Oken, 1815
Orig. name
Madrepora intermedia Brook, 1891
Synonymised names
Acropora eminens von Marenzeller, 1907 (synonymy)
Acropora vanderhorsti Hoffmeister, 1925 (synonymy)
Madrepora (Eumadrepora) intermedia Brook, 1891 (previous combination)
Madrepora intermedia Brook, 1891 (original combination, basionym)
Madrepora repens Rehberg, 1892 (synonymy)

Distribution

Indo-Pacific excluding Hawaii.

Status

Least Concern

Habitat

Common shallow reef slopes and lagoons where it forms large bushes. Depth range 0 - 18 m.