''Seriatopora aculeata'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 a ...

stony coral Scleractinia, also called stony corals or hard corals, are marine animals in the phylum Cnidaria that build themselves a hard skeleton. The individual animals are known as polyps and have a cylindrical body crowned by an oral disc in which a m ...

in the family

Pocilloporidae The Pocilloporidae are a family of stony corals in the order Scleractinia occurring in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Description Pocilloporids are colonial and most species are reef-building. They are very variable in size and shape, some being ...

. It forms a bushy clump. It is native to the Central Indo-Pacific and the Oceanic West Pacific. Its range includes the Philippines, the Great Barrier Reef, Fiji, Indonesia, the Coral Sea, southern Madagascar and Vanuatu. It grows in shallow reef environments, at depths down to about . It is an uncommon species and subject to coral diseases and

bleaching Bleach is the generic name for any chemical product that is used industrially or domestically to remove color (whitening) from a fabric or fiber or to clean or to remove stains in a process called bleaching. It often refers specifically, to ...

. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natur ...

has assessed the conservation status of this species as being "

vulnerable Vulnerable may refer to: General * Vulnerability * Vulnerability (computing) * Vulnerable adult * Vulnerable species Music Albums * ''Vulnerable'' (Marvin Gaye album), 1997 * ''Vulnerable'' (Tricky album), 2003 * ''Vulnerable'' (The Used album) ...

Description

''Seriatopora aculeata'' is a

species and can grow to a diameter of about . It is a

zooxanthellate Zooxanthellae is a colloquial term for single-celled dinoflagellates that are able to live in symbiosis with diverse marine invertebrates including demosponges, corals, jellyfish, and nudibranchs. Most known zooxanthellae are in the genus ''Symb ...

species containing symbiotic

dinoflagellate The dinoflagellates (Greek δῖνος ''dinos'' "whirling" and Latin ''flagellum'' "whip, scourge") are a monophyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes constituting the phylum Dinoflagellata and are usually considered algae. Dinoflagellates are ...

s in its tissues. It is similar in appearance to ''

Seriatopora hystrix ''Seriatopora hystrix'' is a species of Colony (biology), colonial Scleractinia, stony coral in the family Pocilloporidae. It forms a branching clump and is commonly known as thin birdsnest coral. It grows in shallow water on fore-reef slopes or ...

'' and ''

Seriatopora stellata ''Seriatopora stellata'' is a species of colonial stony coral in the family Pocilloporidae. It is native to the western Indo-Pacific region, its range extending from the central Indian Ocean to the central Indo-Pacific, northwestern Australia, In ...

'' but the branches are stout and tend to be fused in small clumps. The

corallite A corallite is the skeletal cup, formed by an individual stony coral polyp, in which the polyp sits and into which it can retract. The cup is composed of aragonite, a crystalline form of calcium carbonate, and is secreted by the polyp. Corallit ...

s are scattered over the surface of the branches and the polyps are often expanded during the day. The colour of this species is usually pink or creamy-white.

References

Pocilloporidae Animals described in 1886 {{scleractinia-stub