ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE

PROTECTION STATUS: Threatened

YEAR PLACED ON LIST: 2006

CRITICAL HABITAT: 2,959 square miles designated in 2008

RECOVERY PLAN: None

RANGE: The Florida Keys, Bahamas, and Caribbean islands, including the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico

THREATS: Global warming, agricultural runoff, increasingly frequent hurricanes, coral bleaching, disease, coastal development, overfishing, pollution, and ocean acidification

POPULATION TREND: Since the 1970s, Caribbean coral populations have collapsed throughout their range, declining by up to 97 percent.

Photo © Mark Rosenstein