''Acropora verweyi'' 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 southwest and northern Indian Ocean, the 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 ...

, Australia, southeast Asia, Japan, the East China Sea and the oceanic western Pacific Ocean. It is also found in the Philippines,

American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the Internation ...

, Fiji and

Rodrigues Rodrigues (french: Île Rodrigues, link=yes ; Creole: ) is a autonomous outer island of the Republic of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, about east of Mauritius. It is part of the Mascarene Islands, which include Mauritius and Réunion. Rod ...

. It occurs in tropical shallow reefs on upper slopes, from depths of .

Taxonomy

''Acropora verweyi'' was described in 1984 by Veron and

Carden Wallace Carden Crea Wallace (fl. 1970–) is an Australian scientist who was the curator/director of the Museum of Tropical Queensland from 1987 to 2003. She is an expert on corals having written a "revision of the Genus ''Acropora''". Wallace was p ...

Description

It is found in encrusted colonies arranged in cushion-, plate-shaped, or corymbose structures. Its branches are short and have diameters of seven to nine millimetres and contain very short branchlets growing near their bases. Its axial corallites are obvious and its radial corallites are appressed, tube-shaped, orderly arranged, and round. The species is a mostly a cream-brown colour and its axial corallites are yellow.

Distribution

It is classed as a vulnerable 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 believed that its population is decreasing in line with the global decline in coral reefs; the species is also listed under Appendix II of CITES. Figures of its population are unknown, but is likely to be threatened by the global reduction of coral reefs, the increase of temperature causing coral bleaching, climate change, human activity, the crown-of-thorns starfish and disease. It occurs in the southwest and northern Indian Ocean, the central Indo-Pacific, Australia, southeast Asia, Japan, the East China Sea and the oceanic western Pacific Ocean. It is found at depths of between in tropical shallow reefs on upper slopes.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3949204 Acropora Cnidarians of the Pacific Ocean Fauna of the Indian Ocean Marine fauna of Asia Marine fauna of Oceania Fauna of Southeast Asia Vulnerable fauna of Asia Vulnerable fauna of Oceania Animals described in 1984