Characters: Colonies consist of encrusting plates, with free irregular margins. Corallites are exsert and irregular. The coenosteum between corallites is smooth and uniform between adjacent corallites.
Colour: Uniform or mottled dark brown.
Similar species: Turbinaria stellulata, which is primarily encrusting and has larger, less exsert corallites separated by coenosteum which is usually a darker colour.
Habitat: Reefs and rocky foreshores.
Abundance: Common except in the Indian Ocean where it is rare.