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Acropora jacquelineae Coral

Acropora jacquelineae Coral

Acropora jacquelineae

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Protected Status

ESA Threatened - Foreign
Throughout Its Range
CITES Appendix II
Throughout Its Range
SPAW Annex III
Throughout the Wider Caribbean Region

Quick Facts

Length
Colony diameter up to about 40 inches but typically around 10 inches
Threats
Climate change (including ocean warming and ocean acidification), Diseases, Habitat degradation, Land-based sources of pollution, Small population size, Unsustainable fishing
Region
Foreign
Close up photo of Acropora jacquelineae coral with other coral and rocks surrounding. Acropora jacquelineae. Credit: Charlie Veron

Acropora jacquelineae. Credit: Charlie Veron

About the Species

Acropora jacquelineae is found from the Coral Triangle (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, New Guinea, Solomon Islands) to the central Pacific Ocean. Colonies are flat-topped and up to one meter across although usually much smaller. Colonies are uniform gray-brown or pinkish in color. Acropora jacquelineae is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Scientific Classification

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Cnidaria
Class Anthozoa
Order Scleractinia
Family Acroporidae
Genus Acropora
Species jacquelineae

Last updated by NOAA Fisheries on 04/28/2025

Featured News

Corals in clear pristine waters. Shallow water provides habitat for branching corals (Acropora spp), as seen here on a reef flat in Guam. Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Jonathan Brown
Feature Story

Celebrate Corals Week

National
50th Anniversary of the Endangered Species Act with smalltooth sawfish, green turtle, Atlantic salmon, staghorn, North Atlantic right whale, and Tubastraea floreana
Feature Story

The Endangered Species Act: 50 Years of Conserving Species

Alaska
New England/Mid-Atlantic
Pacific Islands
Southeast
West Coast
National
Fish swim above a coral reef in the Caribbean. Fish swim above a coral reef in the Caribbean. Credit: Tom Moore
Feature Story

How are Fisheries and Coral Reefs Connected?

National
A school of large parrotfish (Chlorurus frontalis) observed during fish surveys on a coral reef. A school of large parrotfish (Chlorurus frontalis) observed during fish surveys on a coral reef. These fish use their bird-like beaks to scrape away seaweed, or algae, on reefs. Larger parrotfish remove small amounts of underlying substrate, which creates new spaces for corals to grow. Credit: Kevin Lino/NOAA Fisheries
Feature Story

“A Better Chance for Resilience”: Using Hungry Fish to Conserve Coral Reefs

Pacific Islands
View More News

Management Overview

The Acropora jacquelineae coral is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. 

Additionally, the Acropora jacquelineae coral is listed under:

Recovery Planning and Implementation

Under the ESA, NOAA Fisheries is required to develop and implement recovery plans for the conservation and survival of listed species. NOAA Fisheries has developed a recovery outline to serve as an interim guidance document to direct recovery efforts, including recovery planning, for the 15 species of ESA-listed threatened Indo-Pacific corals (herein referred to as the 15 listed corals) until a full recovery plan is developed and approved. The recovery outline presents a preliminary strategy for recovery of the 15 listed corals and recommends high priority actions to stabilize and recover the species.

Recovery Planning Workshop

We held a recovery planning workshop for the 15 listed corals over the course of four 3-hour virtual sessions in May 2021. We announced the workshop in the U.S. Federal Register (86 FR 15650) on March 24, 2021, and it was open to the public. We held duplicate meetings for each session’s discussion points to accommodate participants from different time zones.

The purpose of the workshop was to connect stakeholders and experts from a range of relevant disciplines to:

  • Gather information and ideas on recovery approaches that address the challenges relevant to recovery of the 15 listed corals 
  • Develop recovery criteria that need to be met to delist each of the species 
  • Identify recovery actions to reduce and/or ameliorate threats to the 15 listed corals 

Participants represented a variety of areas of expertise from a range of relevant disciplines, including the listed coral species’ biology/ecology, threats to the species, the species’ habitat and ecosystem, recovery planning, and coral reef conservation and management.

Recovery Status Review

We developed an up-to-date Recovery Status Review for the 15 Species of Indo-Pacific reef-building corals listed under the Endangered Species Act. A Recovery Status Review is a stand-alone document that provides the most comprehensive and current information on the 15 species' biology, ecology, status and threats, and conservation efforts. This document was developed in July 2023, and will be updated as needed with new information. The Recovery Status Review will be used for various purposes, including informing recovery planning, 5-year reviews, Section 7 consultations, and section 10 conservation plans.

Recovery Contacts

5-Year Review

On January 7, 2021, we announced our intention to conduct 5-year reviews for the 15 listed Indo-Pacific coral species, as required by the ESA to ensure that the listing classifications of species are accurate.

We completed the 5-year review in 2024 and concluded that no change to the listing status was warranted for any of the 15 Indo-Pacific reef-building coral species.

Learn more about the Indo-Pacific reef-building corals 5-year review

5-Year Review Contact

Key Actions and Documents

Actions & Documents

5-Year Reviews for 15 Threatened Indo-Pacific Reef-Building Corals

In 2021, NOAA Fisheries announced the initiation of a 5-year review for 15 Indo-Pacific reef-building coral species that are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. These include: Acropora globiceps, Acropora jacquelineae, Acropora lokani…
Notice,
Pacific Islands
Published

Announcement of a Recovery Planning Workshop for the 15 ESA-Listed Indo-Pacific Corals

We are convening a workshop to solicit facts and information from stakeholders and experts to inform recovery planning for 15 species of threatened Indo-Pacific reef corals listed under the Endangered Species Act. We will not be asking for a consensus…
Information Gathering,
Pacific Islands
Published

Listing of 20 Reef-Building Coral Species Under the ESA

We, NOAA Fisheries, are publishing this final rule to implement our final determination to list the following 20 species as threatened: five in the Caribbean (Dendrogyra cylindrus, Orbicella annularis, Orbicella faveolata, Orbicella franksi, and…
Final Rule,
Pacific Islands
Southeast
Effective

More Information

Last updated by NOAA Fisheries on 04/28/2025

Documents

Document

Recovery Status Review for 15 Species of Indo-Pacific Reef-building Corals

Recovery Status Review for 15 Species of Indo-Pacific Reef-building Corals

Pacific Islands
Document

5-Year Review for 15 Indo-Pacific Reef-Building Coral Species

This document is the ESA 5-year review of the species based on the best available data.

Pacific Islands
Document

ESA-Listed Indo-Pacific Coral Species Recovery Planning Workshop Summary

Recovery planning workshop summary report that was held in May 2021 for the 15 U.S. ESA-listed Indo…

Pacific Islands
Document

15 Indo-Pacific Coral Species Recovery Outline

This document serves as an interim guidance document to direct recovery efforts for 15 Indo-Pacific…

Pacific Islands
More Documents

Last updated by NOAA Fisheries on 04/28/2025