Hyacinth table coral

About this species

Acropora hyacinthus is a species of Acropora described from a specimen collected in Fiji by James Dwight Dana in 1846. It was thought to have a range that includes the Indian Ocean, the Indo-Pacific waters, southeast Asia, Japan, the East China Sea and the western Pacific Ocean, but has recently been shown to be restricted to the central pacific and the Australian east coast. It lives on shallow reefs on upper reef slopes, and is found from depths of 1–25 metres (3.3–82.0 ft). Crown-of-thorns starfish preferentially prey upon Acropora corals.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Acropora hyacinthus”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 40 records
February: 71 records
March: 42 records
April: 88 records
May: 231 records
June: 58 records
July: 40 records
August: 132 records
September: 68 records
October: 112 records
November: 163 records
December: 52 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–15 m · Deepest record: 56 m

0–10 m: 395 records
10–20 m: 45 records
20–30 m: 3 records
30–40 m: 2 records
40–50 m: 34 records
50–60 m: 4 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of -0–30 °C

-2–0 °C: 1 records
0–2 °C: 0 records
2–4 °C: 0 records
4–6 °C: 0 records
6–8 °C: 0 records
8–10 °C: 0 records
10–12 °C: 0 records
12–14 °C: 0 records
14–16 °C: 0 records
16–18 °C: 0 records
18–20 °C: 0 records
20–22 °C: 9 records
22–24 °C: 37 records
24–26 °C: 114 records
26–28 °C: 288 records
28–30 °C: 247 records

Photos

(c) Pauline Walsh Jacobson, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ryan McMinds, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) B. P. White, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Pauline Walsh Jacobson, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ryan McMinds, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Hyacinth table coral, Hyacinth tabling coral, Brush Coral, hyacinth table coral, hyacinth tabling coral

Names in 2 more languages

German: Hyazinthen-Tischkoralle
Japanese: クシハダミドリイシ

Other scientific names: Acropora (Acropora) hyacinthus, Acropora (Polystachys) hyacinthus, Madrepora (Polystachys) hyacinthus, Madrepora (Polystachys) recumbens, Madrepora hyacinthinus, Madrepora hyacinthus

Similar species

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
3,153 open-data records from 1846 to 2020.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.