The main branches contain an unorganised structure of branchlets, based on examples in water showing turbidity.

[3] Acropora horrida occurs over a large area but is not common; the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Aden, the Persian Gulf, the Indo-Pacific, the East China Sea, Japan, and Southeast Asia, the Line Islands, Indonesia, and Palau.

Recently, numbers for the species have declined in the Great Barrier Reef, Papua New Guinea, Kimbe Bay, and Orpheus Island.

[1] There is no specific population data for this species, but numbers have been observed to be declining in some locations, and are believed to be decreasing in others.

It is not very resistant to disease and bleaching by sea temperature increases, and is affected by being prey to Acanthaster planci, climate change, fishing, human activity and industry, and pollution.