The staghorn coral (''Acropora cervicornis'') is a branching, stony

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and se ...

with cylindrical branches ranging from a few centimetres to over two metres in length and height. It occurs in back

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes—deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock ...

and fore reef environments from depth. The upper limit is defined by wave forces, and the lower limit is controlled by suspended sediments and light availability. Fore reef zones at intermediate depths were formerly dominated by extensive single-species stands of staghorn coral until the mid-1980s. This coral exhibits the fastest growth of all known western

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

fringe corals, with branches increasing in length by per year. This has been one of the three most important

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...

corals in terms of its contribution to reef growth and fishery habitat.

Distribution

Staghorn coral is found throughout the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and e ...

, the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the a ...

, and the Caribbean islands. This coral occurs in the western

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

, but is absent from U.S. waters in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as

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and the west coast of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

. The northern limit is on the east coast of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

, around

Jupiter, Florida Jupiter is the northernmost town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. According to the 2020 Census, the town had a population of 61,047 as of April 1, 2020. It is 84 miles north of Miami, and the northernmost community in the Miami met ...

Reproduction

The dominant mode of reproduction for staghorn corals is asexual, with new colonies forming when branches break off a colony and reattach to the substrate. This life history trait allows rapid population recovery from physical disturbances such as storms. However, it makes recovery from disease or

bleaching Bleach is the generic name for any chemical product that is used industrially or domestically to remove color (whitening) from a fabric or fiber or to clean or to remove stains in a process called bleaching. It often refers specifically, to ...

episodes (where entire colonies or even entire stands are killed) very difficult.

Sexual reproduction Sexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that involves a complex life cycle in which a gamete ( haploid reproductive cells, such as a sperm or egg cell) with a single set of chromosomes combines with another gamete to produce a zygote th ...

is via broadcast spawning of gametes into the water column once each year in August or September. Individual colonies are both male and female (simultaneous hermaphrodites) and will release millions of

gametes A gamete (; , ultimately ) is a haploid cell that fuses with another haploid cell during fertilization in organisms that reproduce sexually. Gametes are an organism's reproductive cells, also referred to as sex cells. In species that produce ...

. The coral larvae (planula) live in the plankton for several days until finding a suitable area to settle; unfortunately, very few larvae survive to settle and metamorphose into new colonies.

Conservation

Threats and concerns

The preponderance of asexual reproduction in this species raises the possibility that genetic diversity in the remnant populations may be very low. These uncertainties as to recruitment/recovery potential and genetic status are the basis for conservation concerns for this species. From 1970 to 2020, there has been a significant decline in the population of ''Acropora cerviconis'' in the

caused by a combination of coral disease and bleaching as well as other stressors such as pollution and predation. In order to reduce the loss of this species, the Coral Restoration Foundation in conjunction with the NOAA Recovery Plan (NRP) started in 2007 outplanting coral projects to restore populations at sites in the

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is a U.S. National Marine Sanctuary in the Florida Keys. It includes the Florida Reef, the only barrier coral reef in North America and the third-largest coral barrier reef in the world. It also has ex ...

where ''A. cerviconis'' was previously abundant.

ESA listing history

On March 4, 2004, the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned NMFS to list elkhorn (''

Acropora palmata Elkhorn coral (''Acropora palmata'') is an important reef-building coral in the Caribbean. The species has a complex structure with many branches which resemble that of elk antlers; hence, the common name. The branching structure creates habit ...

''), staghorn (''A. cervicornis''), and fused-staghorn ('' A. prolifera'') coral under the ESA. On June 23, 2004, NOAA Fisheries found that listing these species may be warranted and initiated a formal review of their biological status. NMFS convened the Atlantic Acropora Biological Review Team to summarize the best available scientific and commercial data available for these species in the status review report. The BRT completed the status review March 3, 2005. On March 18, 2005, NMFS determined elkhorn and staghorn corals warrant listing as "threatened" species under the ESA. However, NMFS also concluded listing fused-staghorn coral is not warranted, as it is a hybrid and does not constitute a species as defined under the ESA. On May 9, 2005, NMFS proposed adding elkhorn coral to the endangered species list. NMFS designated critical habitat for elkhorn and staghorn corals in 2008.Critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act
/ref> In December 2012 NMFS again proposed reclassifying (77 FR 73219) the elkhorn and staghorn corals as endangered, but determined in September 2014 that they would remain listed as threatened (79 FR 53852).

Gallery

File:Staghorn Looe Key 2010.jpg, Staghorn coral alive at

Looe Key Looe Key is a coral reef located within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. It lies to the south of Big Pine Key. This reef is within a Sanctuary Preservation Area (SPA). Part of Looe Key is designated as "Research Only," an area which p ...

, Florida Keys, July 2010 File:Staghorn-coral-onislandtimes.jpg, Endangered Staghorn Coral photographed off Haulover Bay, Saint John, US Virgin Islands, June 2013.