Deep-Sea taxon details
Acropora Oken, 1815
205469 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:205469)
accepted
Genus
- Species Acropora tenuis (Dana, 1846)
marine, fresh, terrestrial
Oken, L. (1815 - 1816). Lehrbuch der Naturgeschichte. Dritter Theil: Zoologie. [Textbook of Natural History. Part Three: Zoology.]. <em>Erste Abtheilung: Fleischlose Thiere,Leipzig: C.H. Reclam & Jena: A. Schmid, [book (3rd vol part one, of 3 vols, including plates atlas of T.1, 1813].</em> xxviii + 842 pp. + xviii, 40 pls. L [copepods 180-184, 357-359, 4 plates]., available online at https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.166403 [details] 
Description A variety of colony shapes occur, as growth may be determinate, leading to more or less symmetrical shape and obvious edge...
Description Colonies are usually ramose or arborescent, bushy or plate-like, rarely encrusting or submassive. Corallites are of two...
Status ICZN approved validation of genus name, Opinion 674, 1963 See Boschma, H. 1961. Acropora Oken, 1815 (Anthozoa,...
Description A variety of colony shapes occur, as growth may be determinate, leading to more or less symmetrical shape and obvious edge zone, or indeterminate, leading to unrestricted growth (Wallace 1999 p. 50-51). Other distinguishing characteristics include the relative contribution of axial and radial corallites to branch width, shape of radial corallites, whether or not radial corallites are dimorphic, shape and arrangement of coenosteal spines. (Figure 4). Montipora does not haveand Astreopora [details]
Description Colonies are usually ramose or arborescent, bushy or plate-like, rarely encrusting or submassive. Corallites are of two...
Description Colonies are usually ramose or arborescent, bushy or plate-like, rarely encrusting or submassive. Corallites are of two types, radial and axial; septa are in two cycles; columellae are absent; corallite walls and coenosteum are porous. Polyps are usually only extended at night (Veron, 1986).
Occur as plate, table and branching colonies. Most have light skeletons and are fast growing. Corallites are characteristically densely-packed and cup-shaped, 2-3 mm across, often protruding 2-3 mm from the branch surface. In most species, terminal corallites at the tips of branches are enlarged and obvious. Colour: terminal corallites are often bright pink, pale blue or yellow (Richmond, 1997). [details]
Occur as plate, table and branching colonies. Most have light skeletons and are fast growing. Corallites are characteristically densely-packed and cup-shaped, 2-3 mm across, often protruding 2-3 mm from the branch surface. In most species, terminal corallites at the tips of branches are enlarged and obvious. Colour: terminal corallites are often bright pink, pale blue or yellow (Richmond, 1997). [details]
Status ICZN approved validation of genus name, Opinion 674, 1963 See Boschma, H. 1961. Acropora Oken, 1815 (Anthozoa,...
Status ICZN approved validation of genus name, Opinion 674, 1963 See Boschma, H. 1961. Acropora Oken, 1815 (Anthozoa, Madreporaria): proposed validation under the plenary powers. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 18: 334–335. China, W. E. 1963 Opinion 674 Acropora Oken, 1815 (Anthozoa, Madreporaria) validated under the plenary powers. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 20: 319-330. [details]
Hoeksema, B. W.; Cairns, S. (2025). World List of Scleractinia. Acropora Oken, 1815. Accessed through: Glover, A.G.; Higgs, N.; Horton, T. (2025) World Register of Deep-Sea species (WoRDSS) at: https://marinespecies.org/DeepSea/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=205469 on 2026-06-04
Glover, A.G.; Higgs, N.; Horton, T. (2026). World Register of Deep-Sea species (WoRDSS). Acropora Oken, 1815. Accessed at: https://www.marinespecies.org/deepsea/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=205469 on 2026-06-04
Date
action
by
2000-09-28 07:24:50Z
changed
Garcia, Maria
original description
Oken, L. (1815 - 1816). Lehrbuch der Naturgeschichte. Dritter Theil: Zoologie. [Textbook of Natural History. Part Three: Zoology.]. <em>Erste Abtheilung: Fleischlose Thiere,Leipzig: C.H. Reclam & Jena: A. Schmid, [book (3rd vol part one, of 3 vols, including plates atlas of T.1, 1813].</em> xxviii + 842 pp. + xviii, 40 pls. L [copepods 180-184, 357-359, 4 plates]., available online at https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.166403 [details]
basis of record Veron JEN. (1986). Corals of Australia and the Indo-Pacific. <em>Angus & Robertson Publishers.</em> [details]
additional source Riegl, B. (1995). A revision of the hard coral genus Acropora Oken, 1815 (Scleractinia: Astrocoeniina: Acroporidae) in south-east Africa. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 113: 249-288, available online at https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1995.tb00935.x [details]
additional source Dawson EW. (1992). The Coelenterata of the New Zealand region: a handlist for curators, students and ecologists. <em>Occasional papers of the Hutton Foundation, New Zealand.</em> 1: 1-68.
page(s): 47 [details]
additional source Wallace CC. (1999). Staghorn corals of the world: a revision of the coral genus Acropora (Scleractinia; Astrocoeniina; Acroporidae) worldwide, with emphasis on morphology, phylogeny and biogeography. CSIRO, Collingwood (Australia). pp i-xvii, 1-421. [details]
additional source Randall RH. (2003). An annotated checklist of hydrozoan and scleractinian corals collected from Guam and other Mariana Islands. <em>Micronesica.</em> 35-36: 121-137.
page(s): 124, 129 [details]
additional source Veron JEN. (2000). Corals of the World. Vol. 1–3. <em>Australian Institute of Marine Science and CRR, Queensland, Australia.</em> [details]
additional source Wells JW. (1936). The nomenclature and type species of some genera of recent and fossil corals. <em>American Journal of Science.</em> 31: 97-134., available online at https://ajsonline.org/article/61464 [details]
additional source Yabe H, Sugiyama T. (1935). Revised list of the reef-corals from the Japanese seas and of the fossil reef corals of the raised reefs and the Ryukyu limestone of Japan. <em>Journal of the Geological Society of Japan.</em> 42: 379-403., available online at https://doi.org/10.5575/geosoc.42.379
page(s): 383, 385, 387, 389, 400 [details]
additional source Maragos, J. E.; Kenyon, J. (2004). Rose Atoll coral data compiled from US Fish and Wildlife Service 1994, Townsend Cromwell 2002, and Sette 2004 surveys [Table 10]. UNPUBLISHED, Unpublished
page(s): 1 [details]
additional source Sheppard, C. R. C. (1985). Fringing reefs in the southern region, Jeddah to Jizan. Fauna of Saudi Arabia, 7, 37-58
page(s): 45 [details]
additional source Sheppard, C. R. C.; Sheppard, A. L. S. (1985). The central Red Sea at Yanbu al Sinaiyah. Fauna of Saudi Arabia, 7, 17-36
page(s): 30 [details]
additional source Reimer, J. D.; Takishita, K.; Ono, S.; Maruyama, T.; Tsukahara, J. (2006). Latitudinal and intracolony ITS-rDNA sequence variation in the symbiotic dinoflagellate genus Symbiodinium (Dinophyceae) in Zoanthus sansibaricus (Anthozoa:Hexacorallia). Phycological Research, 54, 122-132, available online at https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1835.2006.00419.x
page(s): 125 [details]
additional source Kenyon, J. (2008). Acropora (Anthozoa: Scleractinia) reproductive synchrony and spawning phenology in the Northern Line Islands, central Pacific, as inferred from size classes of developing oocytes. Pacific Science, 62(4): 569-578, available online at https://doi.org/10.2984/1534-6188(2008)62[569:aasrsa]2.0.co;2
page(s): 571, 572, 573, 575, 576 [details]
additional source Reimer, J. D.; Takishita, K.; Ono, S.; Maruyama, T. (2007). Diversity and evolution in the zoanthid genus Palythoa (Cnidaria: Hexacorallia) based on nuclear ITS-rDNA. Coral Reefs, 26, 399-410, available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-007-0210-5
page(s): 405 [details]
additional source Grigg, R. W. (1981). Acropora in Hawaii. Part 2. Zoogeography. Pacific Science, 35(1): 15-24
page(s): 15 [details]
additional source Tkachenko, K. S.; Wu, B. J.; Fang, L. S.; Fan, T. Y. (2007). Dynamics of a coral reef community after mass mortality of branching Acropora corals and an outbreak of anemones. Marine Biology, 151, 185-194
page(s): 186 [details]
additional source Santodomingo N, Wallace CC, Johnson KG. (2015). Fossils reveal a high diversity of the staghorn coral genera Acropora and Isopora (Scleractinia: Acroporidae) in the Neogene of Indonesia. <em>Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.</em> 175: 677-763., available online at https://doi.org/10.1111/zoj.12295 [details]
additional source Wallace CC, Bosellini FR. (2015). Acropora (Scleractinia) from the Oligocene and Miocene of Europe: species longevity, origination and turnover following the Eocene–Oligocene transition. <em>Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.</em> 13(6): 447-469., available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2014.930525 [details]
additional source Wallace CC. (2008). New species and records from the Eocene of England and France support early diversification of the coral genus Acropora. <em>Journal of Paleontology.</em> 82(2): 313-328., available online at https://doi.org/10.1666/06-091.1 [details]
additional source Veron JEN, Marsh LM. (1988). Hermatypic corals of Western Australia : records and annotated species list. <em>Records Western Australian Museum Supplement.</em> 29: 1-136., available online at https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.60555
page(s): 26, 63 [details]
status source ICZN. (1963). Opinion 674: Acropora Oken,1815 (Anthozoa, Madreporaria): validated under the plenary powers. <em>Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature.</em> 20: 329-330. [details]
status source Boschma H (1961) Acropora Oken, 1815 (Anthozoa, Madreporaria); proposed validation under the plenary powers. Z.N.(S.) 1036. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 18: 334-335. [details]
basis of record Veron JEN. (1986). Corals of Australia and the Indo-Pacific. <em>Angus & Robertson Publishers.</em> [details]
additional source Riegl, B. (1995). A revision of the hard coral genus Acropora Oken, 1815 (Scleractinia: Astrocoeniina: Acroporidae) in south-east Africa. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 113: 249-288, available online at https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1995.tb00935.x [details]
additional source Dawson EW. (1992). The Coelenterata of the New Zealand region: a handlist for curators, students and ecologists. <em>Occasional papers of the Hutton Foundation, New Zealand.</em> 1: 1-68.
page(s): 47 [details]
additional source Wallace CC. (1999). Staghorn corals of the world: a revision of the coral genus Acropora (Scleractinia; Astrocoeniina; Acroporidae) worldwide, with emphasis on morphology, phylogeny and biogeography. CSIRO, Collingwood (Australia). pp i-xvii, 1-421. [details]
additional source Randall RH. (2003). An annotated checklist of hydrozoan and scleractinian corals collected from Guam and other Mariana Islands. <em>Micronesica.</em> 35-36: 121-137.
page(s): 124, 129 [details]
additional source Veron JEN. (2000). Corals of the World. Vol. 1–3. <em>Australian Institute of Marine Science and CRR, Queensland, Australia.</em> [details]
additional source Wells JW. (1936). The nomenclature and type species of some genera of recent and fossil corals. <em>American Journal of Science.</em> 31: 97-134., available online at https://ajsonline.org/article/61464 [details]
additional source Yabe H, Sugiyama T. (1935). Revised list of the reef-corals from the Japanese seas and of the fossil reef corals of the raised reefs and the Ryukyu limestone of Japan. <em>Journal of the Geological Society of Japan.</em> 42: 379-403., available online at https://doi.org/10.5575/geosoc.42.379
page(s): 383, 385, 387, 389, 400 [details]
additional source Maragos, J. E.; Kenyon, J. (2004). Rose Atoll coral data compiled from US Fish and Wildlife Service 1994, Townsend Cromwell 2002, and Sette 2004 surveys [Table 10]. UNPUBLISHED, Unpublished
page(s): 1 [details]
additional source Sheppard, C. R. C. (1985). Fringing reefs in the southern region, Jeddah to Jizan. Fauna of Saudi Arabia, 7, 37-58
page(s): 45 [details]
additional source Sheppard, C. R. C.; Sheppard, A. L. S. (1985). The central Red Sea at Yanbu al Sinaiyah. Fauna of Saudi Arabia, 7, 17-36
page(s): 30 [details]
additional source Reimer, J. D.; Takishita, K.; Ono, S.; Maruyama, T.; Tsukahara, J. (2006). Latitudinal and intracolony ITS-rDNA sequence variation in the symbiotic dinoflagellate genus Symbiodinium (Dinophyceae) in Zoanthus sansibaricus (Anthozoa:Hexacorallia). Phycological Research, 54, 122-132, available online at https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1835.2006.00419.x
page(s): 125 [details]
additional source Kenyon, J. (2008). Acropora (Anthozoa: Scleractinia) reproductive synchrony and spawning phenology in the Northern Line Islands, central Pacific, as inferred from size classes of developing oocytes. Pacific Science, 62(4): 569-578, available online at https://doi.org/10.2984/1534-6188(2008)62[569:aasrsa]2.0.co;2
page(s): 571, 572, 573, 575, 576 [details]
additional source Reimer, J. D.; Takishita, K.; Ono, S.; Maruyama, T. (2007). Diversity and evolution in the zoanthid genus Palythoa (Cnidaria: Hexacorallia) based on nuclear ITS-rDNA. Coral Reefs, 26, 399-410, available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-007-0210-5
page(s): 405 [details]
additional source Grigg, R. W. (1981). Acropora in Hawaii. Part 2. Zoogeography. Pacific Science, 35(1): 15-24
page(s): 15 [details]
additional source Tkachenko, K. S.; Wu, B. J.; Fang, L. S.; Fan, T. Y. (2007). Dynamics of a coral reef community after mass mortality of branching Acropora corals and an outbreak of anemones. Marine Biology, 151, 185-194
page(s): 186 [details]
additional source Santodomingo N, Wallace CC, Johnson KG. (2015). Fossils reveal a high diversity of the staghorn coral genera Acropora and Isopora (Scleractinia: Acroporidae) in the Neogene of Indonesia. <em>Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.</em> 175: 677-763., available online at https://doi.org/10.1111/zoj.12295 [details]
additional source Wallace CC, Bosellini FR. (2015). Acropora (Scleractinia) from the Oligocene and Miocene of Europe: species longevity, origination and turnover following the Eocene–Oligocene transition. <em>Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.</em> 13(6): 447-469., available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2014.930525 [details]
additional source Wallace CC. (2008). New species and records from the Eocene of England and France support early diversification of the coral genus Acropora. <em>Journal of Paleontology.</em> 82(2): 313-328., available online at https://doi.org/10.1666/06-091.1 [details]
additional source Veron JEN, Marsh LM. (1988). Hermatypic corals of Western Australia : records and annotated species list. <em>Records Western Australian Museum Supplement.</em> 29: 1-136., available online at https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.60555
page(s): 26, 63 [details]
status source ICZN. (1963). Opinion 674: Acropora Oken,1815 (Anthozoa, Madreporaria): validated under the plenary powers. <em>Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature.</em> 20: 329-330. [details]
status source Boschma H (1961) Acropora Oken, 1815 (Anthozoa, Madreporaria); proposed validation under the plenary powers. Z.N.(S.) 1036. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 18: 334-335. [details]
Present Inaccurate Introduced: alien Containing type locality
Nontype WAM 1001-85, geounit Australian Exclusive Economic Zone [details]
Nontype WAM 50-87, geounit Australian Exclusive Economic Zone [details]
From editor or global species database
Comparison Axial corallites are also seen in some species of Isopora, but with supplementary or multiple axials, and in one species of Astreopora. Acropora and Isopora differ in gametic morphology, ova and spermaries being born within mesenterial filaments in Acropora and on stalks in Isopora, and also in reproductive mode, Acropora being a spawner versus Isopora a brooder oviparous versus viviparous). Montipora corallites do not have a theca and Astreopora does not typically have differentiated axial and radial corallites. Anacropora and Dendracis both have branching colony form, but without an axial corallite or, in the case of Anacropora, thecae. [details]Description A variety of colony shapes occur, as growth may be determinate, leading to more or less symmetrical shape and obvious edge zone, or indeterminate, leading to unrestricted growth (Wallace 1999 p. 50-51). Other distinguishing characteristics include the relative contribution of axial and radial corallites to branch width, shape of radial corallites, whether or not radial corallites are dimorphic, shape and arrangement of coenosteal spines. (Figure 4). Montipora does not haveand Astreopora [details]
Description Colonies are usually ramose or arborescent, bushy or plate-like, rarely encrusting or submassive. Corallites are of two types, radial and axial; septa are in two cycles; columellae are absent; corallite walls and coenosteum are porous. Polyps are usually only extended at night (Veron, 1986).
Occur as plate, table and branching colonies. Most have light skeletons and are fast growing. Corallites are characteristically densely-packed and cup-shaped, 2-3 mm across, often protruding 2-3 mm from the branch surface. In most species, terminal corallites at the tips of branches are enlarged and obvious. Colour: terminal corallites are often bright pink, pale blue or yellow (Richmond, 1997). [details]
Diagnosis Acroporidae which are ramose, rarely encrusting; branching mode axial, each branch having a single axial or leading corallite larger than the numerous radial corallites budded from it; radial corallites variously differentiated in shape and size, up to twelve spinose septa; theca and coenosteum light, reticulate, spinose, costate or pseudocostate; columella and dissepiments absent. [details]
Remark Monographed Brook 1893, Veron and Wallace 1984, Wallace 1999. Valid extant species number between about 120 and 140 (Wallace 1999; Veron 2000); valid fossil species approx. 20-30 (Michellotti 1838, Duncan 1866, Oppenheim 1901, Alvarez Perez 1987, Wallace 2008). Active research will lead to new species descriptions in both living and fossil records. This genus becomes extremely diverse in the Indo-Pacific but not in the Western Atlantic during the Late Cenozoic. See Wallace (1999) for a comprehensive treatment of the genus and included species [details]
Status ICZN approved validation of genus name, Opinion 674, 1963 See Boschma, H. 1961. Acropora Oken, 1815 (Anthozoa, Madreporaria): proposed validation under the plenary powers. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 18: 334–335. China, W. E. 1963 Opinion 674 Acropora Oken, 1815 (Anthozoa, Madreporaria) validated under the plenary powers. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 20: 319-330. [details]
| Language | Name | |
|---|---|---|
| English | staghorn coralhorn coralsantler coral | [details] |
| German | Baumkorallen | [details] |
| Japanese | ミドリイシ属 | [details] |
From editor or global species database
Unreviewed
Image from typetaxon
Image from typetaxon
Image from typetaxon
