Acropora palmate (elkhorn coral) is a big branch coral with thick, and said to be powerful antler shaped branches.  People also say they look like elks horns. These branches create habitats for a lot other reef species examples are:  lobsters, parrot-fish, snappers, and other reef fish. Elkhorn coral colonies are incredible fast growing the average rate is 5-10 cm per year and can eventually grow up to be 12ft in diameters. The color of this coral is from brown to a yellowish-brown. The color is the results of the symbiotic zooanthellae (that is a single celled species that lived in the Elkhorn coral tissues).

 

The habitat of this species is normally the Caribbean area and the Florida Keys. They do GREAT in that habitat because they are in the warmer waters.  They survive better in warm water, because there is more algae in the top of the water and they need that to survive.

 

The dominant type of reproduction for Elkhorn coral is asexual. With the new colonies building when the branches break off of a colony they reattach to it. Sexual reproduction happens by broadcast of gametes into the water column one time each year in either august or September. Single colonies are both female and male and will normally release millions of gametes.

 

The type of things they need to survive are zooxanthellae. This is a type of algae which photosynthesize to give the coral the nutrients it needs. The zoozanthellae are also capable of taking away the waste products form the Elkhorn coral.

 

Elkhorn coral was once one of the most abundant types of marine corals in the Caribbean and the Florida Keys. Since 1980 it has been estimated that 90-95% of Elkhorn coral has been lost. Threats to the elkhorn coral is diseases. Examples of this are coral bleaching, predation, climate change, storm damage and human activity. All of these things have created an effect that greatly inhibits the survival and reproduction of the Elkhorn Coral. Natural recovery of coral is a slow process and may never happen with this species because there are so many inhibitors to it. Today they say that Elkhorn coral and Staghorn coral are the number one on the  list of endangered species.

 

Some interesting things I learned about this species are that it has no predators. They are found in the Florida Keys and the Caribbean.  The things that stood out about the Elkhorn coral is that it is endangered, because of all the diseases in the waters.

 

Author: Alexee D.

Published: 02/2008

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Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elkhorn_coral

http://www.reefnews.com/reefnews/news/v05n02/apalmata.html

http://www.enature.com/flashcard/show_flash_card.asp?recordNumber=SC0043

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/invertebrates/elkhorncoral.htm

http://www.reefrelief.org/Image_archive/diseases/2elk.html

http://www.uga.edu/columns/020826/news7.html

http://www.surfrider.org/rincon/reefs.asp