Cyphastrea salae is a massive to encrusting scleractinian coral (family Merulinidae) found across the Indo-Pacific in shallow reef environments, with small, densely packed corallites and characteristic septal morphology. The species maintains photosymbiosis with Symbiodiniaceae and inhabits a variety of reef microhabitats including slopes, flats, and lagoons. Genomic data have been generated for this species and are available in public databases, enabling comparative studies of cnidarian evolution and ecology.