Are all acropora Staghorns?

[dochou]

Or are only certain species considered staghorns?
If not, which acropora sp. are considered staghorns?
Staghorn is just a common name, correct?

 

[Tonycass12]

Staghorns will have long thick branches looking like a deer or stag antlers. Not all acropora are stags your looking at Acropora cervicornis when your looking at stags.

 

[BeltedCoyote]

Stags are a group of several species of acropora which share broadly similar grown patterns.

 

[C. Eymann]

Depends who you ask, author Cardene Wallace, who wrote a great ID book called " staghorn corals of the world" refers to all Acropora as staghorn corals.

In the hobby, we generally refer to species like muricata/ formosa, lovelli, hoeksemai, loisettae, grandis, copiosa, robusta, aborhoensis, yongei as "stags"