Acropora echinata
Dana, 1846
Description: Colonies are composed of prostrate, sometimes intertwined, bottlebrush branches. Secondary branchlets are fine and uniform. There is no distinction between axial and incipient axial corallites. Radial corallites are short and tubular or pocket shaped, indistinct or absent.
Color: Usually cream or white, with blue or purple branchlet tips (which may photograph pink to red). Occasionally entirely blue.
Habitat: Protected reef environments with clear water and a high Acropora diversity.
Abundance: Usually uncommon but conspicuous.
Similar Species: Acropora speciosa. See also A. subglabra, which has more irregular branches and shorter corallites and A. turaki, which has thick-walled axial corallites.
Source reference: Veron (2000). Taxonomic references: Veron and Wallace (1984), Wallace (1999). Identification guides: Veron (1986), Nishihira and Veron (1995).
A thicket of sprawling branches. Calamian Islands, Philippines Photograph: Charlie Veron
Corallite detail. Sunda Islands, Indonesia Photograph: Roger Steene
Bottle-brush branching pattern of radial corallites. Sunda Islands, Indonesia Photograph: Roger Steene
Skeletal detail. Radial corallites.