An Informational Guide to Common Stony Corals of Florida
side image of gopher tortoise opening its mouth. Figure 4 from  Wildlife of Florida Factsheet: Gopher Tortoise: WEC396/UW441, 8/2018
view on edis
PDF-2018

Keywords

Species identification
field guide
corals
Florida Reef Tract

How to Cite

Henry, Joseph, Roy P. Yanong, Maia McGuire, and Joshua T. Patterson. 2018. “An Informational Guide to Common Stony Corals of Florida: FA210 FA210, 10 2018”. EDIS 2018 (5). Gainesville, FL. https://doi.org/10.32473/edis-fa210-2018.

Abstract

The following information is meant to be a guide to Scleractinian (stony) corals of Florida. All corals presented in this paper are in a protected status under Florida’s Coral Reef Protection Act and several of these species are federally protected under the Endangered Species Act. In their natural environment, these corals should never be handled or touched in any form.

https://doi.org/10.32473/edis-fa210-2018
view on edis
PDF-2018

References

Aronson, R., A. Bruckner, J. Moore, B. Precht, and E. Weil. 2008. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008.

Gilbert, C. R. 1986. Species Profiles. Life Histories and Environmental Requirements of Coastal Fishes and Invertebrates (South Florida). Southern, Gulf, and Summer Flounders.

Goodbody‐Gringley, G., R. M. Woollacott, and G. Giribet. 2012. "Population structure and connectivity in the Atlantic scleractinian coral Montastraea cavernosa (Linnaeus, 1767)." Marine ecology 33(1): 32-48. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0485.2011.00452.x

Goldberg, W. M. 1973. The ecology of the coral-octocoral community of the southeast Florida coast: geomorphology, species composition and zonation. Bulletin of Marine Science 23: 465-488.

Goreau, T. F., and J. W. Wells. 1967. The shallow-water Scleractinia of Jamaica: Revised list of species and their vertical distribution range. Bulletin of Marine Science 17: 442-453.

Hughes, T. P. 1994. Catastrophes, phase shifts, and large-scale degradation of a Caribbean coral reef. Science 265: 1547-1551 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.265.5178.1547

Humann, P., and N. DeLoach. 2013. Reef coral Identification: Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas. New World Publication, Inc., FL.

Lewis, J. B., F. Axelsen, I. Goodbody, C. Page, and G. Chislett. 1968. Comparative growth rates of some reef corals in the Caribbean. McGill Univ. Marine Science Manuscript. Rep. 10, p. 1-27.

Macintyre, I. G. 2003. "A classic marginal coral environment: tropical coral patches off North Carolina, USA." Coral Reefs 22: 474. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-003-0329-y

Macintyre, I. G., I. Goodbody, K. Ruetzler, D. S. Littler, and M. M. Littler. 2000. "A general biological and geological survey of the rims of ponds in the major mangrove islands of the Pelican Cays, Belize." Atoll Research Bulletin 467: 13-44. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00775630.467.15

NMFS. 2006. Endangered and threatened species: Final listing determinations for elkhorn coral and staghorn coral. Federal Register 71: 26852-26861

NOAA Fisheries. 2002. "General Fact Sheet: Atlantic Acropora Corals" (On-line pdf). NOAA Fisheries. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/acropora-pharaonis-coral

Porter, J. W. 1987. Species profiles: Life histories and environmental requirements of coastal fishes and invertebrates (south Florida) - Reef-building corals. US Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Report 82(11.73). US Army Corp of Engineers, TR EL-82-4, 23.

Precht, W. 2018. Coral disease ravages reef-building corals throughout southeast Florida. Inside Ecology Magazine. https://insideecology.com/2018/04/05/coral-disease-ravages-reef-building-corals-throughout-southeast-florida/

Randall, C. J., and A. M. Szmant. 2009. "Elevated temperature affects development, survivorship, and settlement of the elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata (Lamarck 1816)." The Biological Bulletin 217(3): 269-282. https://doi.org/10.1086/BBLv217n3p269

Reed, J. K. 1985. "Deepest distribution of Atlantic hermatypic corals discovered in the Bahamas." Fifth International Coral Reef Congress 6: 249-254 Tahiti.

Tunnell, J. W. J. 1988. "Regional comparison of southwestern Gulf of Mexico to Caribbean Sea coral reefs." In Proc. 6th Int. Coral Reef Symp., Vol. 3, pp. 303-308, Townsville, Australia.

Wagner, D. E., P. Kramer, and R. Van Woesik. 2010. "Species composition, habitat, and water quality influence coral bleaching in southern Florida." Marine Ecology Progress Series 408: 65-78. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps08584

Warner, G. 2012. Corals of Florida & the Caribbean. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, FL.

Weil, E., and N. Knowton. 1994. "A multi-character analysis of the Caribbean coral Montastraea annularis (Ellis and Solander, 1786) and its two-sibling species, M. faveolata (Ellis and Solander, 1786) and M. franksi (Gregory, 1895)." Bulletin of Marine Science 55: 151-175.

Wells, J. W. 1973. "Coral reef project-papers in memory of Dr. Thomas F. Goreau. 2. New and old scleractinian corals from Jamaica." Bulletin of Marine Science 23(1): 16-58.

Whelan, K. R. T., J. Miller, O. Sanchez, and M. Patterson. 2007. "Impact of the 2005 coral bleaching event on Porites porites and Colpophyllia natans at Tektite Reef, US Virgin Islands." Coral Reefs 26: 689-693. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-007-0241-y

Williams, D. E., M. W. Miller, and K. L. Kramer. 2008. "Recruitment failure in Florida Keys Acropora palmata, a threatened Caribbean coral." Coral Reefs 27(3): 697-705. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-008-0386-3

Unless otherwise specified, articles published in the EDIS journal after January 1, 2024 are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.