''Acropora granulosa'' 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 northern and southwest Indian Ocean, 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''; T ...

, Australia, the

East China Sea The East China Sea is an arm of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. It covers an area of roughly . The sea’s northern extension between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula is the Yellow Sea, separated b ...

, Japan, the oceanic central and western Pacific Ocean, and 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 ...

. It occurs in tropical shallow reefs, from depths of between . It was described by Milne Edwards in 1860 and is classified as near threatened by the IUCN.

Description

It is found in colonies composed of a single horizontal plate of branches with a diameter below . Branches are evenly spaced and branchlets are short and inclined. Each branchlet has at least one incipient axial and axial corallite, and its small radial corallites are pocket-shaped. There are no known similar-looking species, and it is mostly pale blue, cream or grey in colour.

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 believed 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 reduction of coral reefs, the increase of temperature causing coral bleaching, climate change, human activity, the

crown-of-thorns starfish The crown-of-thorns starfish (frequently abbreviated to COTS), ''Acanthaster planci'', is a large starfish that preys upon hard, or stony, coral polyps (Scleractinia). The crown-of-thorns starfish receives its name from venomous thorn-like spine ...

(''Acanthaster planci'') and disease. It occurs in the northern and southwest Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, Australia, the East China Sea, Japan, the oceanic central and western Pacific Ocean, and the central Indo-Pacific. It is found at depths of between in tropical shallow reefs.

Taxonomy

It was described as ''Madrepora granulosa'' by Milne Edwards in 1860.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3940227 Acropora Corals described in 1860 Near threatened animals