Acropora verweyi
Veron and Wallace, 1984
Description: Colonies form encrusting plates with short branches, or are cushion-shaped, or form extensive corymbose bushes. Branches are 7-9 millimetres thick, do not taper and have short branchlets towards their bases. Axial corallites are prominent, radial corallites are rounded, tubular and appressed, and arranged in rows.
Color: Almost always a uniform creamy-brown with yellow axial corallites.
Habitat: Upper reef slopes, especially those exposed to wave action or currents.
Abundance: Common, especially in the western Indian Ocean.
Similar Species: Acropora bushyensis, which has thinner branches and outward facing open radial corallites.
Taxonomic references: Veron and Wallace (1984), Wallace (1999). Identification guides: Veron (1986), Nishihira and Veron (1995).
A large colony of compact branchlets. Zanzibar, Tanzania Photograph: Charlie Veron
A neatly digitate colony. Great Barrier Reef, Australia Photograph: Charlie Veron
A thicket in shallow water. Ryukyu Islands, Japan Photograph: Charlie Veron
Corallite detail. Great Barrier Reef, Australia Photograph: Charlie Veron
Skeletal detail. Axial and radial corallites.
Corallite detail. Tonga Photograph: Gustav Paulay