[Coral-List] NOAA Finds 66 Corals Warrant Listing under the US Endangered Species Act

Douglas Fenner douglasfennertassi at gmail.com
Mon Dec 3 17:09:18 EST 2012


   To my knowledge, Anacropora is still a valid genus.
   Acropora palifera, A. cuneata, A. crateriformis, and A. togianensis were
raised from Acropora subgenus Isopora, to genus Isopora, so Isopora was
raised from a subgenus of Acropora to a genus of its own.  By a paper by
Carden Wallace et al.  I thought the evidence for that was good and have
adopted it.  Presumably includes A. elizabethensis and A. cylindrica if one
recognizes them, they were named in the Veron 2000 book (Carden hasn't
weighed in on that yet as far as I know).
      Veron wrote that Anacropora is essentially branching Montipora
without an encrusting base, but most species have finer features (smaller
corallites, finer coenosteum) than Montipora, though Veron has now
described one Anacropora from the Red Sea with coarser features.  I think I
remember some paper that reported that Anacropora was located within the
Montipora tree in a genetics study.  Which is reasonable given the
definition.  There are some Montipora that are branching which I've never
seen any base on.  But Anacropora produces cylindrical branches, tips taper
to a point (which can be rounded) and there are usually small mounds or
spines under the corallites.  Those things are different form the branching
Montipora, which usually also have rougher branches.

     Cheers,  Doug


On Mon, Dec 3, 2012 at 6:30 AM, Delbeek, Charles <CDelbeek at calacademy.org>wrote:

> I believe Anacropora is no longer a valid genus, so that listing would
> have to be changed if true.
>
> J. Charles Delbeek, M.Sc.
> Assistant Curator, Steinhart Aquarium
> California Academy of Sciences
>
> p 415.379.5303
> f. 415.379.5304
> cdelbeek at calacademy.org
> www.calacademy.org
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov [mailto:
> coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Jennifer Moore -
> NOAA Federal
> Sent: Friday, November 30, 2012 10:06 AM
> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Subject: [Coral-List] NOAA Finds 66 Corals Warrant Listing under the US
> Endangered Species Act
>
> Today, NOAA announced that we are proposing to list 66 reef-building coral
> species under the US Endangered Species Act, including 59 species in the
> Indo-Pacific and seven in the Caribbean. Additionally, we are proposing
> that the two Caribbean coral species (Acropora palmata and Acropora
> cervicornis) currently listed should be reclassification from threatened to
> endangered.  We are also holding 18 public hearings on the proposal during
> our 90-day public comment period to continue to encourage public engagement
> before we make a final decision. Specific details on the proposed listings
> and all of the documents associated with our finding will be available
> online after 1:00 pm EST at:
> http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/stories/2012/11/82corals.html.
>
> NOAA's proposal to list these coral species is based on the best available
> scientific information. To recap, in 2009, NOAA received petition to list
> 83 species of reef-building corals under the ESA from the Center for
> Biological Diversity. On February 10, 2010, NOAA found that the Center
> presented substantial information indicating that listing under the ESA may
> be warranted for 82 of the 83 petitioned species. Following the initial
> finding, NOAA convened a Biological Review Team to initiate a formal status
> review of the 82 species. The result was a *Status Review Report*, released
> in April 2012. The peer-reviewed report incorporated and summarized the
> best available scientific and commercial data to date. The agency also
> conducted a public engagement process between April and July 2012 to gather
> additional scientific information, allow time for a public review of the
> Status Review and Draft Management Reports, and to further engage the
> public. All relevant information gathered was summarized in a new
> Supplemental Information Report.  Together, the Status Review, Supplemental
> Information, and Final Management reports form the basis of our proposed
> listing.
>
> If you want more information on our proposed listing,please view the
> extensive information available
> online<http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/stories/2012/11/82corals.html>,
> attend one of the public hearings in early 2013, or contact one of our
> experts. We look forward to continuing the public engagement process we
> began three years ago when this process started.
>
> --
>
> *Jennifer Moore
> ESA Coral Coordinator | Protected Resources Division
> NOAA Fisheries Service
> 263 13th Ave South
> Saint Petersburg, FL 33701727-551-5797 phone | 727-824-5309
> faxjennifer.moore at noaa.gov
> http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/esa/acropora.htm*
>
> *http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/esa/82CoralSpecies.htm*
> <http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/esa/82CoralSpecies.htm>*
>
> To those who sacrificed careers of adventure in the wide-open spaces
> to wrestle for conservation in the policy arena.*
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