Colonies are colored brown, green or blue, may be over 2 metres across (usually smaller) and composed of fused cylindrical horizontal branches with upturned pointed ends.Branches are widely spaced, equidistant and uniform in shape. Radial corallites are uniform, tubular, and neatly aligned along branches.
Least concern according to the IUCN Red list. Although the global population is showing a decreasing trend – due to habitat loss mostly – the species is widely spread across coral reefs in tropical waters. The rising seawater temperature and acidification of the seas could pose a more serious threat in the near future.
This species is found in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, the south-west and north-west Indian Ocean, the Arabian/Iranian Gulf, the northern Indian Ocean, the central Indo-Pacific, Australia, Southeast Asia, Japan and the East China Sea, and the oceanic west Pacific. It is also found in Palau. It is found in upper and lower reef slopes protected from wave action and inter-reef channels, in a depth range of 5-20 meters.
Members of the class Anthozoa are both gonochoric (either of one distinct sexes) and hermaphroditic (both sexes at the same time). Mature gametes are shed into the coelenteron and spawned through the mouth. Fertilization is usually external. The zygote develops into a planktonic planula larva. Metamorphosis begins with early morphogenesis of tentacles, septa and pharynx before larval settlement on the aboral end.
Up to 200cm in diameter.
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It is considered to be one of the most common species of coral on reefs throughout the world.