Lack of morphological features of diagnostic value and high levels of environmental phenotypic plasticity obscure species boundaries for most taxa in the genus Pocillopora Lamarck, 1816 and complicate the definition of taxonomically distinct units. Species of the genus are colonial, generally ramose, rarely massive or encrusting and mostly hermatypic; corallite arrangement is plocoid, septa are generally poorly developed and usually arranged in two cycles; the columella is mostly poorly developed (Veron & Pichon 1976). Verrucae are common, although reduced in some species. Currently 17 species are formally acknowledged within the genus (Veron 2000).

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	Anthozoa, Pocillopora, Pocilloporidae, Scleractinia
Research Division:	Biological Sciences
Research Group:	Evolutionary biology
Research Field:	Animal systematics and taxonomy
Objective Division:	Environmental Management
Objective Group:	Marine systems and management
Objective Field:	Marine biodiversity
UTAS Author:	Schmidt-Roach, S (Mr Sebastian Schmidt-Roach)
UTAS Author:	Miller, KJ (Dr Karen Miller)
ID Code:	91744
Year Published:	2013
Web of Science® Times Cited:	27
Deposited By:	IMAS Research and Education Centre
Deposited On:	2014-05-29
Last Modified:	2017-11-15
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