Rough Cactus Coral

Protected Status

ESA Threatened

Throughout Its Range

CITES Appendix II

Throughout Its Range

SPAW Annex III

Throughout the Wider Caribbean Region

Quick Facts

Lifespan

Up to hundreds of years

Threats

Climate change (including ocean warming and ocean acidification), Diseases, Habitat degradation, Land-based sources of pollution, Unsustainable fishing, Small population size

Region

Southeast

Rough cactus coral. Credit: NOAA Fisheries

About the Species

Rough cactus coral. Credit: NOAA Fisheries

Rough cactus coral is found in the Caribbean, southern Gulf of America (formerly Gulf of Mexico), Florida, and the Bahamas. It is uncommon in occurrence and can be difficult to distinguish from other species in its genus. Rough cactus coral is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

NOAA Fisheries is committed to conserving and protecting rough cactus coral. Our scientists and partners use a variety of innovative techniques to study, learn more about, and protect this species.

Population Status

Rough cactus coral is uncommon or rare on reefs and is one of the least common species observed. Because of its low encounter rate, its population status is difficult to determine. Extremely low successful reproduction limits the ability of rough cactus coral to recover.

Appearance

Rough cactus coral grows as an encrusting plate. It is typically found in shades of gray or brown in color but may also be reddish or green. Each rough cactus coral colony is made up of many individual polyps that grow together. Each polyp is an exact copy of all the polyps in the same colony. Maximum colony size is 50 cm.

Behavior and Diet

Rough cactus coral gets food from photosynthetic algae that live inside the coral's cells. They also feed by capturing plankton with their polyps’ tentacles. Coral bleaching is the loss of the algae that live in coral tissue. This loss can lead to coral death through starvation or increased vulnerability to diseases.

Where They Live

Rough cactus coral can be found in the Caribbean Sea, southern Gulf of America, and southern Atlantic (southern Florida). They are found in most reef environments in water depths ranging from 5 to 90 m but are most common in reef environments between 10 and 20 m depth. NOAA Fisheries has designated five critical areas determined to provide critical recruitment habitat for mountainous star corals off the coast of Florida, the islands of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Navassa,.

World map providing approximate representation of the Rough Cactus Coral's Range

Lifespan & Reproduction

Rough cactus coral is a hermaphroditic species, meaning colonies produce both eggs and sperm. It releases sperm into the water column, and eggs are fertilized within the colony. Rough cactus coral broods fertilized eggs until they develop into larvae. When larvae are released from the colony, they settle on hard surfaces and form new colonies. Rough cactus coral reaches reproductive maturity at about 6 cm in size. Recruitment rates of rough cactus coral are very low. Colonies can live for hundreds of years.

a visual depicting boulder coral life cycle — Life cycle of corals. Credit: NOAA Fisheries

Scientific Classification

Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Cnidaria
Class	Anthozoa
Order	Scleractinia
Family	Faviidae
Genus	Mycetophyllia
Species	ferox

Last updated by NOAA Fisheries on 12/02/2025

What We Do

Conservation & Management

We are committed to the protection and recovery of rough cactus coral through implementation of various conservation, regulatory, and restoration measures. Our work includes:

Protecting habitat and designating critical habitat
Breeding rough cactus corals in nurseries and planting them into the wild
Gene banking rough cactus corals to preserve genetic diversity
Rescuing injured rough cactus corals after ship groundings or major storm events

Learn more about our conservation efforts

How You Can Help

Conserve Energy

Use energy efficient lighting, bike to work, or practice other energy-saving actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change is one of the leading threats to coral reefs.

Learn more about climate and corals

Conserve Water

The less water you use, the less runoff and wastewater carrying nutrients, sediments, and toxins into the ocean.

Learn how toxins and other pollutants affect coral reefs

Practice Safe Boating

Anchor in sandy areas away from coral and obey aids-to-navigation/signage to make sure you do not accidentally injure corals that are just below the surface.

Reduce Chemical/Sunscreen Pollution

Choose sunscreen with zinc oxide or titanium dioxide over those containing oxybenzone, which is toxic to corals.

Learn more about what you can do to protect coral reefs

Management Overview

The rough cactus coral is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Additionally, the rough cactus coral is listed under:

Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
Annex III of the Protocol for Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW)

Conservation Efforts

Working to Enhance Populations

Severely reduced successful reproductive recruitment into the population is one of the major obstacles things impeding recovery of pillar corals. There are many factors that are contributing to this problem. NOAA Fisheries, with many partners, is are taking several steps to help, including:

Establishing a network of coral nurseries throughout the species’ range to conserve, grow, and asexually produce fragments and outplant them to the reef.
Researching and implementing sexual reproduction techniques such as cryopreservation (preserving through a cooling process) of sperm and collection and fertilization of eggs and sperm for short-term rearing in the lab and outplanting to the reef.

Responding to Physical Impacts

Ship grounding and other physical impacts can break corals. If the broken fragments are stabilized quickly after being broken, the corals can survive and continue to grow. NOAA Fisheries supports a program to respond to these events in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands where tens of thousands of corals have been rescued.

Conserving Coral Reefs

NOAA Fisheries is part of the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program which brings together a team of various expertise from across NOAA to understand and conserve coral reef ecosystems. The NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program focuses on implementing projects to address the impacts from the top three recognized global threats to coral reefs: climate change (including ocean acidification), land-based sources of pollution, and unsustainable fishing practices.

Regulatory History

The Recovery Outline (PDF, 6 pages) is meant to serve as an interim guidance document to direct recovery efforts, including recovery planning, for pillar coral, rough cactus coral, lobed star coral, mountainous star coral, and boulder star coral.

Species Recovery Contact

Alison Moulding, Southeast Corals Recovery Coordinator

Critical Habitat Designation

Once a species is listed under the ESA, NOAA Fisheries evaluates and identifies whether any areas meet the definition of critical habitat. Those areas may be designated as critical habitat through a rule making process. The designation of an area as critical habitat does not create a closed area, marine protected area, refuge, wilderness reserve, preservation, or other conservation area; nor does the designation affect land ownership. Federal agencies that undertake, fund, or permit activities that may affect these designated critical habitat areas are required to consult with NOAA Fisheries to ensure that their actions do not adversely modify or destroy designated critical habitat.

We designated critical habitat for five threatened Caribbean coral species, including the rough cactus coral. Twenty-eight mostly overlapping specific occupied areas containing physical features essential to the conservation of these coral species were designated as critical habitat. These areas contain approximately 16,830 square kilometers (6,500 square miles) of marine habitat.

Key Actions and Documents

Actions & Documents

Final Rule to Designate Critical Habitat for the Threatened Caribbean Corals

Final Rule,

Southeast

Effective

September 8, 2023

5-Year Review of Staghorn Coral, Elkhorn Coral, Pillar Coral, Rough Cactus Coral, Lobed Star Coral, Mountainous Star Coral, and Boulder Star Coral

5-Year Review of Staghorn Coral, Elkhorn Coral, Pillar Coral, Rough Cactus Coral, Lobed Star Coral, Mountainous Star Coral, and Boulder Star Coral.

Notice of initiation; request for information (86 FR 1091, 01/07/2021)

Notice,

Southeast

Published

August 5, 2022

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

Final Rule,

Pacific Islands

Southeast

Effective

October 10, 2014

Last updated by NOAA Fisheries on 12/02/2025

Documents

Document

Caribbean Corals 5-Year Review

NOAA Fisheries has published a 5-year review of staghorn coral, elkhorn coral, pillar coral, rough…

Southeast

Document

5 Caribbean Coral Species Recovery Outline

This document serves as an interim guidance document to direct recovery efforts for pillar coral,…

Southeast

Data & Maps

Map