''Acropora globiceps'' 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 ...

found in the oceanic central and western

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

and 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 ...

. It can also be found in the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, the

Andaman Islands The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a maritime boundary between th ...

Polynesia Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...

and the

Pitcairn Islands The Pitcairn Islands (; Pitkern: '), officially the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, is a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean that form the sole British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. The four isl ...

. It occurs on the slopes of reefs, the flats of reefs, in tropical shallow reefs, and at depths of around . It was described by Dana in 1846.

Description

''Acropora globiceps'' occurs in small digitate colonies consisting of compact branches. Its corallites are of no specific size; specimens on slopes of reefs have had tube-shaped corallites, and specimens on reef flats have had corallites built into the branches. The axial corallites are small, and the radial corallites may be ordered in rows. It is cream or blue in colour. It looks similar to ''

Acropora gemmifera ''Acropora gemmifera'' is a species of acroporid coral found in the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the central Indo-Pacific, the southwest and northern Indian Ocean, southeastern Asia, Australia, the East China Sea, Japan, the oceanic central and we ...

'', ''

Acropora monticulosa ''Acropora monticulosa'' is a species of acroporid coral found in the southwest and northern Indian Ocean, the central Indo-Pacific, Australia, Southeast Asia, Japan, the East China Sea and the oceanic west Pacific Ocean. It is also found in the ...

'', ''

Acropora retusa ''Acropora retusa'' is a species of ''Acropora ''Acropora'' is a genus of small polyp stony coral in the phylum Cnidaria. Some of its species are known as table coral, elkhorn coral, and staghorn coral. Over 149 species are described. ''Acr ...

'', and ''

Acropora secale ''Acropora secale'' is a species of branching staghorn stony coral. It is found in shallow parts of the Indo-Pacific Ocean and the type locality is Sri Lanka. The oldest fossils found date back to the Pleistocene. Description ''Acropora secal ...

''.

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; it 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 (''Acanthaster planci'') and disease. It is found in the central and western Pacific Ocean and the central Indo-Pacific, including the Great Barrier Reef, the Andaman Islands, the Philippines, Polynesia, the Pitcairn Islands, and Micronesia. It is found at around below the surface.

Taxonomy

It was described as ''Madrepora globiceps'' by Dana in 1846.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q16480151 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 Corals described in 1846