Acropora anthocercis   (Brook,  1893) (Hard Coral)
Organism information awaits expert curation
Taxonomy
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Cnidaria
Class: Anthozoa
Order:Scleractinia
Family:Acroporidae

Image copyrights: Guido T. Poppe & Philippe Poppe
Description
Colour: colonies are a mixture of colours: blue, mauve, purple and grey being the most common.

Colonies are thick corymbose plates. Branches are upward-projecting, thick, with several axial corallites which are thick, exsert and tapered. Radial corallites have thick walls.

Synonym (s)
• Madrepora anthocercis Brook, 1893
Common Name (s)
• Stony Coral (English)
• Table Coral (English)
Economic Importance and Threats
Threats:  Natural threats
(Members of this genus have a low resistance and low tolerance to bleaching and disease, and are slow to recover)
Threats:  Anthropogenic
(Fisheries, human development (industry, settlement, tourism, and transportation), changes in native species dynamics (competitors, predators, pathogens and parasites), invasive species (competitors, predators, pathogens and parasites), dynamite fishing, chemical fishing, pollution from agriculture and industry, domestic pollution, sedimentation, and human recreation and tourism activities)
Ecology
Habitat:  Reef Associated
Trophic Level:  Consumer
Prey:  Plankton
Predator:  Butterflyfishes (Chaetodon trifascialis and Chaetodon trifasciatus)
IUCN Status:  Vulnerable
Biogeography


• Andaman and Nicobar Islands INDIA
• Andaman and Nicobar Islands, North Andaman, Avis Island INDIA
• Andaman and Nicobar Islands, South Andaman, Pongibalu INDIA
Literature Source(s)
  • (2003) IUCN Red list of threatened species Available at - http://www.iucnredlist.org/
  • Venkataraman, K; Satyanarayana, CH; Alfred, JRB and Wolstenholme, J (2003) Handbook on hard corals of India ZSI, Kolkata 266 pp Available at - NIO, Goa
  • Sealifebase Available at - http://www.sealifebase.org/
  • Wafar, MVM and Wafar, S (2001) 101 questions on corals: Towards awareness National Institute of Oceanography, Goa and Administration of the U.T. of Lakshadweep 81 pp Available at - NIO, Goa
  • Carpenter, KE; Abrar, M; Aeby, G; Aronson, RB; Banks, S et al. (2008) One third of reef building corals face elevated extinction risk from climate change and local impacts Science American Association for the Advancement of Science 321 125-126 Available at - http://sci.odu.edu/gmsa/about/Carpenter_corals_supplimental.pdf
  • Society for the Management of European Biodiversity Data (2009) World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) Available at - http://www.marinespecies.org
  • Veron, JEN (2000) Corals of the world Australian Institute of Marine Science, Australia 1 463 pp Available at - NIO, Goa
  • Graham, NAJ (2007) Ecological versatility and the decline of coral feeding fishes following climate driven coral mortality Marine Biology Springer Berlin / Heidelberg 153(2) 119-127 Available at - http://www.springerlink.com/content/9603851204hwv725/fulltext.pdf
  • Society for the Management of European Biodiversity Data (2009) World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) Available at - http://www.marinespecies.org
  • Indian Wild Life Protection Act, 1972
  • (2011) Animal discoveries 2010 Zoological Survey of India 1-107 Available at - http://zsi.gov.in/right_menu/Animal_disc/Animal%20Discovery%202010.pdf
  • poppeimages Available at - http://www.poppe-images.com/
  • Raguraman, R; Sreeraj, CR; Immanuel, T and Raghunathan, C (2010) Intensive study on the Scleractinian coral diversity of Pongibalu, south andaman Journal of Environment and Sociobiology Social Environmental and Biological Association, Kolkata, India 7(1) 29-36 Available at - NIO,Goa
Page last updated on:2013-04-23

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