''Alveopora'' is a genus of colonial

stony corals 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 mo ...

in the

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Acroporidae 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 ...

. Members of this genus are native to the Indo-Pacific region and are often found on reef slopes in turbid water. They are generally uncommon.

Characteristics

''Alveopora'' has a very light and porous skeleton consisting of interconnecting rods and spines. The colonies are either massive or branching and often have irregular shapes. 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 have walls that are very perforated and

septa The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly 4 million people in five coun ...

that are mostly composed of fine spines which may meet in the centre forming a tangle of columella. The polyps are large and fleshy and are normally extended both day and night. They have twelve tentacles, often with swollen knob-like tips. They have symbiotic zooxanthellae in their tissues and are usually white, pale grey, cream or light brown, sometimes with contrasting coloured tentacles.

Species

This genus contains the following species: *'' Alveopora allingi'' Hoffmeister, 1925 *'' Alveopora catalai'' Wells, 1968 *'' Alveopora daedalea'' (Forsskål, 1775) *'' Alveopora excelsa'' Verrill, 1864 *'' Alveopora fenestrata'' (Lamarck, 1816) *'' Alveopora gigas'' Veron, 1985 *'' Alveopora japonica'' Eguchi, 1968 *'' Alveopora marionensis'' Veron & Pichon, 1982 *'' Alveopora minuta'' Veron, 2000 *'' Alveopora noamiae'' Nemenzo, 1979 *'' Alveopora ocellata'' Wells, 1954 *'' Alveopora simplex'' *'' Alveopora spongiosa'' Dana, 1846 *'' Alveopora superficialis'' Pillai & Scheer, 1976 *'' Alveopora tizardi'' Bassett-Smith, 1890 *''

Alveopora verrilliana ''Alveopora verrilliana'' is a species of stony coral that is found in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the northern Indian Ocean, the central Indo-Pacific, Australia, Southeast Asia, Japan, the East China Sea, the oceanic west and central Pacific ...

'' Dana, 1846 *''

Alveopora viridis ''Alveopora viridis'' is a species of stony coral that has a highly disjunct range, and can be found in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the northern Indian Ocean and in Palau and the Mariana Islands. It is found on lower coral reef slopes to dep ...

'' (Quoy & Gaimard, 1833)

References

Acroporidae Scleractinia genera Taxa named by Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville {{scleractinia-stub