Acroporidae is a family of small polyped stony corals in the phylum

Cnidaria Cnidaria () is a phylum under kingdom Animalia containing over 11,000 species of aquatic animals found both in freshwater and marine environments, predominantly the latter. Their distinguishing feature is cnidocytes, specialized cells that th ...

. 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.Classification of Scleractinian (Stony) Corals
/ref> They are commonly known as staghorn corals and are grown in aquaria by reef hobbyists.Quintessential Small Polyped Stony Corals, the Staghorns, Family Acroporidae
/ref>

Description

Staghorn corals are the dominant group of

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...

builders. They come in many shapes and sizes and can be highly variable in colour and form, even within the same

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of 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 the appropriate s ...

. Most are either a branching variant or a wall/ table top variant shaped and some are encrusting. Encrusting means they grow over rock structure. the Their colours vary between browns, whites, pinks, blues, yellows, greens and purple, depending not only on species but also on the growing conditions. Identification is difficult and requires close examination of the corallites and a biochemical and genetic analysis. There is a corallite at the tip of each branch and, with the exception of ''

Astreopora ''Astreopora'' is a genus of stony corals in the Acroporidae family. Members of the genus are commonly known as star corals and there are seventeen species currently recognized. Description Members of this genus mostly form dome-shaped or rounde ...

'', these are small with up to twelve

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 ...

in two cycles.

Distribution

''Anacropora'', ''Astreopora'' and ''Montipora'' are found in the Indian and Pacific Ocean. ''Acropora'' is cosmopolitan and is both common and conspicuous, usually being dominant in Indo-Pacific reefs. ''Enigmopora'' is represented by a single new species, '' Enigmopora darveliensis'', found in Malaysia and the Philippines.

Biology

Staghorn corals are

hermaphrodite In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrate ...

s. They are mostly broadcast-spawners and some species have been involved in annual synchronous mass-spawning events on 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, ...

and in Japanese and Indonesian waters. Some species undergo fragmentation, a form of

asexual reproduction Asexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that does not involve the fusion of gametes or change in the number of chromosomes. The offspring that arise by asexual reproduction from either unicellular or multicellular organisms inherit the fu ...

, and this sometimes results in reefs composed of a single species.

References

{{Authority control Scleractinia Cnidarian families Taxa named by Addison Emery Verrill