Porites lutea forms massive, smooth, hemispherical mounds or helmet-shaped colonies up to 4 m (13 ft) across.

In contrast to Porites lobata, the corallites are well-filled with skeletal elements, including five tall pali near the centre.

Its range extends from Madagascar and the east coast of Africa to Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan and northern and eastern Australia.

[5] In Yemen, the non-native, invasive, encrusting red sponge Clathria aceratoobtusa grows over the surface of the coral, at the rate of about 1 cm (0.4 in) per month, smothering and killing it.

Researchers in Indonesia have studied the growth rate of Porites lutea and correlated it with the El Niño phenomenon.