Staghorn coral

Acropora cervicornis

Staghorn coral is a branching reef-building coral whose cylindrical branches resemble deer antlers. Dense thickets in shallow Caribbean water provide shelter for many fish and other reef animals.

Not a fish · an aquatic neighbor

Water

Saltwater

Shallow tropical coral reefs and reef flats.

Temperature

Range not established

No dependable species-specific wild temperature range was located.

Size

Colonies up to about 2.4 m (8 ft) in diameter and 1.2 m (4 ft) tall

A large colony can be wider than a family car.

Lifespan

Colonies can live for hundreds of years

Life expectancy varies with place, conditions, and what scientists have been able to observe.

01 · Signature adaptation

What does it do?

It grows in dense groups called thickets. Coral polyps build a hard calcium-carbonate skeleton, while their algae provide much of the colony's energy.

Its superpowerIt can grow rapidly into large branching thickets that create habitat.

02 · Home coordinates

Where does it live?

Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, southern Florida, and the wider western Atlantic reef region.

Regions: Caribbean Sea · Gulf of Mexico · Florida · Bahamas

03 · The menu

What does it eat?

Polyps catch plankton, while symbiotic algae make sugars using sunlight and share them with the coral.

Mixotroph: plankton, sugars from symbiotic algae.

04 · Remember this

Two wow facts

Antler architecture

Its branches can form dense thickets that serve as important shelter for reef animals.

Sources [1]

Major collapse

Its population is now less than 3 percent of its former abundance after severe disease losses.

Sources [1]