Staghorn Coral

Staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) is a branching reef-building coral of the Caribbean and western Atlantic, once among the most abundant corals in shallow reefs. It is listed as Critically Endangered after losing the large majority of its population.

🧬 Field Guide Specimen: Open Staghorn Coral in the CRV Science Field Guide to log the specimen, see its place among the Cnidaria+Ctenophora lineages in the Cladogram Explorer, and test your recall in the Red List conservation game.

Staghorn branches can grow ten or more centimeters a year, building complex habitat for fish and lobsters. Broken fragments can reattach and grow into new colonies, a form of asexual reproduction that also makes the species suited to restoration.

In the 1970s and 1980s white-band disease killed most staghorn and elkhorn corals in the Caribbean, and bleaching during marine heatwaves has added to the losses. It was among the first coral species listed under the US Endangered Species Act in 2006. See Coral bleaching.

Underwater nurseries grow fragments on frames or trees and then plant them onto reefs. Genetic work seeks heat-tolerant genotypes, and some projects raise corals from spawned eggs to boost diversity.

• Elkhorn Coral — its Caribbean companion
• Coral bleaching — symbiont loss
• Ocean acidification — weaker skeletons