Pocilloporidae

Pocilloporidae is a family of stony corals in the order Scleractinia found in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its corals are colonial and most are reef-builders, varying widely in size and shape from submassive to branching forms, with small corallites that are sunken or raised cones and a skeleton covered in spinules. The genera are polymorphic, changing growth form with light and wave action. Colonies are hermaphrodites: sperm is released into the sea and drawn into other polyps, and the planula larvae are brooded and then released, so dispersal distances are short but the chance of finding a place to settle is higher. The family contains the genera Madracis, Pocillopora, Seriatopora and Stylophora and is closely related to the Astrocoeniidae and Acroporidae.