Acropora echinata is a branching coral (family Acroporidae) distributed across Indo-Pacific reef systems from Australia to Japan, exhibiting corymbose growth with heavily spinose radial corallites giving branches a distinctively spiny texture. Like all acroporids, it depends on Symbiodiniaceae photosymbiosis and is sensitive to thermal anomalies. Genomic data have been generated for this species and are available in public databases, enabling comparative studies of cnidarian evolution and ecology.