Creatures in Crisis
Photograph of Lowrelief Lettuce Coral (Agaricia humilis), recorded as Critically Endangered
Lowrelief Lettuce Coral (Agaricia humilis). Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Critically Endangered

Lowrelief Lettuce Coral

Agaricia humilis

Lowrelief Lettuce Coral is a lettuce coral in the family Agariciidae (order Scleractinia) — Agaricia humilis, recorded as Critically Endangered and tied to U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and United States.

Status
Critically Endangered
Scientific name
Agaricia humilis
CITES
Appendix II
Taxonomy
Anthozoa · Scleractinia · Agariciidae · Agaricia

The lettuce coral

It was first described by Addison Emery Verrill in 1902.

Agaricia corals grow as thin, leafy or plated colonies — the ‘lettuce’ in the English names. The ridges follow the skeleton, not painted colour.

Lettuce and sheet corals in Agariciidae form thin plates or leaves. The living animal is the polyps; the plate is the shared skeleton.

Range and habitat

Lowrelief Lettuce Coral is recorded from U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, United States, Colombia, Mexico, and Curaçao.

GBIF currently lists 10,963 occurrence points. Those points follow where people logged the taxon — museum drawers and surveys included — not a closed range boundary.

Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.

Habits

Sheet and lettuce corals need a hard bottom and enough light for their algae. Sediment that settles on the plates smothers polyps.

A stony-coral colony is fixed. Growth, bleaching, and death happen in place. Collection and gear damage remove the skeleton as well as the tissue.

In crisis

CITES lists this taxon on Appendix II. Confirm the current appendix on the CITES checklist.

Thin-plated lettuce corals smother under sediment and heat-bleach with the rest of the shallow reef.

Lowrelief Lettuce Coral is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.

Sources

Written for this catalog from the Cebuano Wikipedia article on Agaricia humilis, translated and retold in English, plus Wikidata item Q3947799 and GBIF occurrence geography. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Confirm status and range on iucnredlist.org.

Photograph via Wikimedia Commons. Wikidata · IUCN Red List.

Same genus

Photograph of Lamarck's Sheet Coral (Agaricia lamarcki), recorded as Critically EndangeredCR

Lamarck's Sheet Coral

Agaricia lamarcki
Photograph of Agaricia tenuifolia (Agaricia tenuifolia), recorded as Critically EndangeredCR

Agaricia tenuifolia

Agaricia tenuifolia
Photograph of Vaquita (Phocoena sinus), recorded as Critically EndangeredCR

Vaquita

Phocoena sinus
Photograph of Javan rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus), recorded as Critically EndangeredCR

Javan rhinoceros

Rhinoceros sondaicus

Quick answers

What is Lowrelief Lettuce Coral?
Lowrelief Lettuce Coral is a coral.
What is the conservation status of Lowrelief Lettuce Coral?
Critically Endangered, as the IUCN category stored on Wikidata for Agaricia humilis. Confirm the official assessment on iucnredlist.org.
Where does Lowrelief Lettuce Coral live?
Lowrelief Lettuce Coral is a coral.
Why is Lowrelief Lettuce Coral in crisis?
Thin-plated lettuce corals smother under sediment and heat-bleach with the rest of the shallow reef.
Is this the IUCN Red List page for Agaricia humilis?
No. This is a researched catalog account. The Red List is the assessment.
Is Lowrelief Lettuce Coral a pet?
An animal on this catalog is in crisis in the wild. Keeping one is usually the wrong question.