''Acropora muricata'', commonly called staghorn coral, is a species of

acroporid Acroporidae is a family of small polyped stony corals in the phylum Cnidaria. The name is derived from the Greek ''"akron"'' meaning "summit" and refers to the presence of a corallite at the tip of each branch of coral. They are commonly known a ...

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secre ...

found in the Gulf of Aden, the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

, Indian Ocean,

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bo ...

, Australia, central

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

, Japan,

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

, the East China Sea and the oceanic central and western Pacific Ocean. It is found in tropical shallow reefs, slopes of reefs, and in lagoons, from depths of 5 to 30 m. It was described by Dana in 1846.

Description

It occurs in arborescent colonies forming thickets with diameters of up to . Its branches vary from being short in shallower water to being less clumped in deeper water. Its axial corallites protrude from the branches and the radial corallites are tube-shaped. It is blue, brown or cream, and the ends of branches are pale. It looks similar to ''

Acropora teres ''Acropora teres'' is a species of acroporid coral found in the central Indo-Pacific, Southeast Asia, Japan, the East China Sea and the oceanic western Pacific Ocean. It is found in tropical shallow reefs on slopes and in lagoons, at depths of b ...

''.

Distribution

It is classed as a near threatened species on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

and it is thought that its population is decreasing; the species is listed under Appendix II of CITES. Figures of its population are unknown, but is likely to be threatened by the global decline of coral reefs, the increase of temperature causing coral bleaching, climate change, human activity, the crown-of-thorns starfish (''Acanthaster planci'') and disease. It occurs in the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the northwest and southwest Indian Ocean, the northern Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf, Australia, the central Indo-Pacific, Japan, Southeast Asia, the East China Sea and the oceanic central and western Pacific Ocean. It occurs at depths of between .

Taxonomy

It was originally described as ''Millepora muricata'' by Linnaeus in 1758 .

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13227597 Acropora Cnidarians of the Pacific Ocean Fauna of the Indian Ocean Fauna of the Red Sea Marine fauna of Africa Marine fauna of Asia Marine fauna of Oceania Near threatened animals Near threatened biota of Asia Near threatened biota of Oceania Corals described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN