About Acropora gemmifera (Brook, 1892)
Acropora gemmifera forms digitate colonies made up of thick, tapering branches. Each branch has a single axial corallite at its tip, while radial corallites are arranged in rows. Incipient axial corallites are found near the bases of branches. This coral can be blue, brown, cream, or purple, and its branches have white or blue tips. Its corallites are dark grey with white rims; specimens from the Indian Ocean have been observed to have yellowish axial corallites. This species is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, though its population is thought to be decreasing alongside the ongoing global decline of corals. It is also listed under Appendix II of CITES. Exact population figures for this species are unknown, and it is likely threatened by global coral reef loss, rising temperatures that cause coral bleaching, climate change, human activity, the crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci), and disease. Acropora gemmifera occurs in the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the central Indo-Pacific, the southwest and northern Indian Ocean, southeastern Asia, Australia, the East China Sea, Japan, the oceanic central and western Pacific Ocean, and northwestern Hawaiʻi.
