Agaricia lamarcki
Taxonomy:
Eukaryota; Opisthokonta; Metazoa; Eumetazoa; Cnidaria; Anthozoa; Hexacorallia; Scleractinia; Fungiina; Agariciidae; Agaricia; lamarcki
General Info:
Caribbean sheet coral, Agaricia lamarcki, is a gonochoric, brooding, plate coral with a wide geographic distribution throughout the Caribbean basin, Florida, Gulf of Mexico and Bahamas. Colonies form massive, flattened plates with concentric rows of long, shallow ridges separated by wide valleys. Prominent white star-like polyps at the valley’s center contrasting with a yellow to brown coloration is often used for visual identification. Generally considered a ‘depth-generalist’ species, A. lamarcki is commonly found inhabiting fore reef slope, deep channel and cryptic habitats, with a recorded depth distribution from 10 to 75 m. This broad depth distribution is thought to be facilitated by both morphological and physiological adaptations, such as plasticity in coral-Symbiodiniaceae associations at shallow and mesophotic depths. Populations of A. lamarcki have experienced drastic declines in the past decades due to bleaching events and disease outbreaks, leading to its listing as vulnerable on the IUCN red list of threated species. Even so, relatively healthy populations persist in southwest Puerto Rico, thus representing an ideal prospect as a model organism for coral genomics and ecological studies. Recently it has been the target of next-generation sequencing in an attempt to elucidate the mechanistic basis of coral adaptation to mesophotic depths and the potential implications for the ‘Deep Reef Refugia Hypothesis’.