Acropora palmata

Elkhorn coral is an important reef-building coral in the Caribbean. The species has a complex structure with many branches which resemble that of elk antlers; hence, the common name. The branching structure creates habitat and shelter for many other reef species. Elkhorn coral is known to grow quickly with an average growth rate of 5 to 10 cm per year. They can reproduce both sexually and asexually, though asexual reproduction is much more common and occurs through a process called fragmentation.

Acropora palmata

Uncredited · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
AcroporaPBDB
Diet
photosymbiotic, suspension feederPBDB, for Acroporidae
Life habit
colonial, clonalPBDB, for Acroporidae
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Scleractinia
Vision
blindPBDB, for Anthozoa
Environment
marinePBDB, for Scleractinia

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 11.63 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 13.82 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 1 of 282 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 24 of 282 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 229 of 282 occurrencesPleistocene14–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.7–5.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.3–4.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.8–4.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.3–3.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.8–3.3 Mya — about 5 occurrences3.3–2.9 Mya — about 8 occurrences2.9–2.4 Mya — about 10 occurrences2.4–1.9 Mya — about 12 occurrences1.9–1.4 Mya — about 10 occurrences1.4–955 ka Mya — about 10 occurrences955 ka–477 ka Mya — about 22 occurrences477 ka–0 Mya — about 198 occurrences11.63 Mya11.7 ka14.3 Mya0 Mya

282 occurrences of Acropora palmata on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

282 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

23 formations

Hato — 12.28°N, 69.07°WHato — 12.37°N, 69.10°WHato — 12.23°N, 69.02°WHato — 12.17°N, 68.88°WHato — 12.20°N, 69.08°WHato — 12.13°N, 68.98°WIronshore — 19.65°N, 80.10°WIronshore — 19.27°N, 81.37°WIronshore — 19.35°N, 81.37°WIronshore — 19.35°N, 81.08°WIronshore — 19.28°N, 81.15°WSan Luis — 12.50°N, 81.72°WSan Luis — 12.57°N, 81.72°WSeroe Domi — 12.13°N, 68.95°WMoin — 9.97°N, 83.05°WMoin — 10.00°N, 83.03°WIsla Colon — 9.42°N, 82.32°WIsla Colon — 9.35°N, 82.17°WQuebrada Chocolate — 9.98°N, 83.08°WUrraca — 9.45°N, 82.30°WUrraca — 9.43°N, 82.32°WUrraca — 9.38°N, 82.24°WPort Morant — 17.87°N, 76.32°WManchioneal — 18.19°N, 76.43°WBlanquilla — 11.85°N, 64.62°WBowden — 17.88°N, 76.28°WHope Gate — 18.47°N, 77.40°WCalvert — 38.54°N, 76.73°WSwan Cay — 9.43°N, 82.30°WLucayan — 24.65°N, 79.11°WTamiami — 25.67°N, 80.31°WFalmouth — 18.50°N, 77.33°WKey Largo Limestone/Miami Oolite — 24.67°N, 81.57°WAmbergris Cay Limestone — 18.12°N, 87.82°WGrotto Beach — 24.03°N, 74.52°WKey Largo — 24.93°N, 80.60°WWhite Wall — 17.47°N, 62.96°W

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The named rock units Acropora palmata has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 133 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Acropora palmata and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Acropora palmata and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

318 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 74 sites for Acropora palmata, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

56 references

Each of the 282 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 44 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Acropora palmata

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAcropora through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Lamarck 1816)