The staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) is a branching, stony coral with cylindrical branches ranging from a few centimetres to over two metres in length and height. It occurs in back reef and fore reef environments from 0 to 30 m (0 to 98 ft) depth. Wave forces dictate the upper threshold, while suspended sediments and the availability of light regulate the lower boundary. Until the mid-1980s, the intermediate depths of 5–25 meters (16–82 feet) in the fore reef zones were once primarily occupied by vast areas of staghorn coral, consisting largely of single-species stands. Staghorn corals can exhibit very fast growth, adding up to 5 cm (~2 in) in new skeleton for every 1 cm of existing skeleton each year; this makes them one of the fastest growing fringe coral species in the western Atlantic. Therefore, staghorn corals have been one of the three most important Caribbean corals in terms of its contribution to reef growth and fishery habitat.
Staghorn coral is found throughout the Florida Keys, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean islands. This coral occurs in the western Gulf of Mexico, but is absent from U.S. waters in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as Bermuda and the west coast of South America; the northern limit of this species is Palm Beach County, Florida, where only very small populations occur.
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 episodes (where entire colonies or even entire stands are killed) very difficult.
Sexual reproduction 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. 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.
