''Acropora donei'' is a species of acroporid

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 sec ...

that was first described by J. 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 ...

in 1984. Found in

fringing reef A fringing reef is one of the three main types of coral reef. It is distinguished from the other main types, barrier reefs and atolls, in that it has either an entirely shallow backreef zone (lagoon) or none at all. If a fringing reef grows direc ...

s and the upper slopes of shallow reefs, it occurs at depths of . The species is rated as vulnerable 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 ...

, with a decreasing population, and is affected by disease. It is not common but found over a large area, and is listed under CITES Appendix II.

Description

''Acropora donei'' forms in colonies with a width of up to , and are made of many fused branches. It is cream, white, green, and sometimes pale brown in colour. The branches are flat, but towards the centre, the ends are upward-facing. The ends of all branches are blunt but neat, and flaring lips are present on larger radial corallites (on the sides of branches), while the smaller corallites lack these. Its coenosteum is bristly, making the species appear rough, and there are no similar species within genus ''Acropora''. It occurs in tropical, shallow reefs; typically in

s and the slopes of other reefs, where many ''Acropora'' species occur. In this marine environment, it exists at between .

Distribution

''Acropora donei'' is not common but found over a large range; the Indian Ocean, Australia, western Pacific, Southeast Asia, the Indo-Pacific, Yemen, and Japan. It is found in all six regions of Indonesia and at the Marshall Islands in seven locations, and also occurs in large number of countries. There is no known population for it, but the species is threatened by the decline of coral reefs, water temperatures increasing causing bleaching, disease, climate change, fishing, the acidification of oceans, pollution, invasive species, and ''Acanthaster planci''. It occurs at temperatures of , and is thought to have existed for 0.13 million years. The range of some specimens potentially means that they could exist in Marine Protected Areas, and it listed as a

vulnerable species A vulnerable species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened species, threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatened species, ...

on the

as the population is decreasing, and is listed on CITES under Appendix II.

Taxonomy

It was first described in 1984 by Jen Veron and C. C. Wallace as ''Acropora donei'' in East Australia.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3942531 Acropora Animals described in 1984 Vulnerable animals