Characters: Colonies are massive, hemispherical or columnar and often over one metre across. Corallites are only slightly angular, with thick rounded walls. Septa are irregular in length and taper from the wall to the columellae, which are small. Paliform lobes are thick.
Colour: Uniform cream or brown, occasionally with orange centres.
Similar Species: Goniastrea retiformis. See also G. aspera, which has larger corallites.
Habitat: Mostly shallow subtidal communities.
Abundance: Common.
Taxonomic References: Chevalier (1971); Veron, Pichon and Wijsman-Best (1977); Veron (2000a);
Identification Guides: Veron (1986a); Sheppard and Sheppard (1991); Nishihira and Veron (1995); Pillay, Terashima, Venkatasami et al. (2002); Turak and DeVantier (2011b);
