The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™

   ISSN 2307-8235 (online)

   IUCN 2008: T133257A3657726

Diploria labyrinthiformis, Grooved Brain Coral

Assessment by: Aronson, R., Bruckner, A., Moore, J., Precht, B. & E. Weil

View on www.iucnredlist.org

Citation: Aronson, R., Bruckner, A., Moore, J., Precht, B. & E. Weil. 2008. Diploria labyrinthiformis.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008: e.T133257A3657726.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T133257A3657726.en

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THE IUCN RED LIST OF THREATENED SPECIES™

Taxonomy
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family

Animalia Cnidaria Anthozoa Scleractinia Faviidae

Taxon Name:  Diploria labyrinthiformis (Linnaeus, 1758)

Common Name(s):
• English: Grooved Brain Coral

Assessment Information
Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern ver 3.1

Year Published: 2008

Date Assessed: January 1, 2008

Justification:
The most important known threat for this species is extensive reduction of coral reef habitat due to a
combination of threats. Specific population trends are unknown but population reduction can be
inferred from estimated habitat loss (Wilkinson 2004). It is widespread in the Caribbean and common
throughout its range and therefore is likely to be more resilient to habitat loss and reef degradation
because of an assumed large effective population size that is highly connected and/or stable with
enhanced genetic variability. Therefore, the estimated habitat loss of 10% from reefs already destroyed
within its range is the best inference of population reduction since it may survive in coral reefs already
at the critical stage of degradation (Wilkinson 2004). This inference of population reduction over three
generation lengths (30 years) does not meet the threshold of a threat category and this species is Least
Concern. However, because of predicted threats from climate change and ocean acidification it will be
important to reassess this species in 10 years or sooner, particularly if the species is also observed to
disappear from reefs currently at the critical stage of reef degradation.

Geographic Range
Range Description:
This species occurs in the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Bahamas, and Bermuda.

Country Occurrence:
Native: Anguilla; Antigua and Barbuda; Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Bermuda; Bonaire, Sint Eustatius
and Saba (Saba, Sint Eustatius); Cayman Islands; Colombia; Costa Rica; Cuba; Curaçao; Dominica;
Dominican Republic; Grenada; Guadeloupe; Haiti; Honduras; Jamaica; Mexico; Montserrat; Nicaragua;
Panama; Saint Barthélemy; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Martin (French part); Saint Vincent
and the Grenadines; Sint Maarten (Dutch part); Trinidad and Tobago; Turks and Caicos Islands; United
States; United States Minor Outlying Islands; Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of; Virgin Islands, British

FAO Marine Fishing Areas:

© The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Diploria labyrinthiformis – published in 2008. 1
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Native: Atlantic - western central

© The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Diploria labyrinthiformis – published in 2008. 2
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Distribution Map

© The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Diploria labyrinthiformis – published in 2008. 3
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Population
This species is common in most reef environments, but at low abundances. In certain localized areas,
this species can be the most abundant brain coral. There are no known instances of widespread
population declines, but localized mass mortality events have been recorded (e.g., Bruckner and
Bruckner 1997).

There is no species specific population information available for this species. However, there is evidence
that overall coral reef habitat has declined, and this is used as a proxy for population decline for this
species. This species is more resilient to some of the threats faced by corals and therefore population
decline is estimated using the percentage of destroyed reefs only (Wilkinson 2004). We assume that
most, if not all, mature individuals will be removed from a destroyed reef and that on average, the
number of individuals on reefs are equal across its range and proportional to the percentage of
destroyed reefs. Reef losses throughout the species' range have been estimated over three generations,
two in the past and one projected into the future.

The age of first maturity of most reef building corals is typically three to eight years (Wallace 1999) and
therefore we assume that average age of mature individuals is greater than eight years. Furthermore,
based on average sizes and growth rates, we assume that average generation length is 10 years, unless
otherwise stated. Total longevity is not known, but likely to be more than ten years. Therefore any
population decline rates for the Red List assessment are measured over at least 30 years. See the
Supplementary Material for further details on population decline and generation length estimates.

For further information about this species, see Supplementary Material.

Current Population Trend:  Stable

Habitat and Ecology (see Appendix for additional information)

This species is found from 1-43 m depth, and is most common from 2-15 m in lagoon and fore-reef
environments (Goreau and Wells 1967).

Systems:  Marine

Threats (see Appendix for additional information)

The major threat to this species is black band disease and white plague, with localized impacts from
bleaching, bioerosion by sponges and other organisms, hurricane damage, and high sedimentation. This
species generally exhibits high rates of recruitment, but new recruits may sustain high mortality due to
algal overgrowth.

In general, the major threat to corals is global climate change, in particular, temperature extremes
leading to bleaching and increased susceptibility to disease, increased severity of ENSO events and
storms, and ocean acidification.

Coral disease has emerged as a serious threat to coral reefs worldwide and a major cause of reef
deterioration (Weil et al. 2006). The numbers of diseases and coral species affected, as well as the

© The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Diploria labyrinthiformis – published in 2008. 4
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distribution of diseases have all increased dramatically within the last decade (Porter et al. 2001, Green
and Bruckner 2000, Sutherland et al. 2004, Weil 2004). Coral disease epizootics have resulted in
significant losses of coral cover and were implicated in the dramatic decline of acroporids in the Florida
Keys (Aronson and Precht 2001, Porter et al. 2001, Patterson et al. 2002). Escalating anthropogenic
stressors combined with the threats associated with global climate change of increases in coral disease,
frequency and duration of coral bleaching and ocean acidification place coral reefs at high risk of
collapse.

Localized threats to corals include fisheries, human development (industry, settlement, tourism, and
transportation), changes in native species dynamics (competitors, predators, pathogens and parasites),
invasive species (competitors, predators, pathogens and parasites), dynamite fishing, chemical fishing,
pollution from agriculture and industry, domestic pollution, sedimentation, and human recreation and
tourism activities.

The severity of these combined threats to the global population of each individual species is not known.

Conservation Actions (see Appendix for additional information)

In the US, it is present in many MPAs, including Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Biscayne N.P.,
Dry Tortugas National Park, Buck Island Reef National Monument and Flower Garden Banks National
Marine Sanctuary. Also present in Hol Chan Marine Reserve (Belize), Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park
(Bahamas). In US waters, it is illegal to harvest corals for commercial purposes.

All corals are listed on CITES Appendix II.

Recommended measures for conserving this species include research in taxonomy, population,
abundance and trends, ecology and habitat status, threats and resilience to threats, restoration action;
identification, establishment and management of new protected areas; expansion of protected areas;
recovery management; and disease, pathogen and parasite management. Artificial propagation and
techniques such as cryo-preservation of gametes may become important for conserving coral
biodiversity.

Having timely access to national-level trade data for CITES analysis reports would be valuable for
monitoring trends this species. The species is targeted by collectors for the aquarium trade and fisheries
management is required for the species, e.g., MPAs, quotas, size limits, etc. Consideration of the
suitability of species for aquaria should also be included as part of fisheries management, and
population surveys should be carried out to monitor the effects of harvesting. Recommended
conservation measures include population surveys to monitor the effects of collecting for the aquarium
trade, especially in Indonesia.

Credits
Assessor(s): Aronson, R., Bruckner, A., Moore, J., Precht, B. & E. Weil

Reviewer(s): Livingstone, S., Polidoro, B. & Smith, J. (Global Marine Species Assessment)

© The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Diploria labyrinthiformis – published in 2008. 5
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Bibliography
Aeby, G.S., Work, T., Coles, S., and Lewis, T. 2006. Coral Disease Across the Hawaiian Archipelago. EOS,
Transactions, American Geophysical Union 87(36): suppl.

Aronson, R.B. and Precht, W.F. 2001b. White-band disease and the changing face of Caribbean coral
reefs. Hydrobiologia 460: 25-38.

Bruckner, A.W. and Bruckner, R.J. 1997. The persistence of black-band disease in Jamaica:Impact on
Community Structure. Eighth Intern. Coral Reef Symp 1: 601-606.

Bruno, J.F., Selig, E.R., Casey, K.S., Page, C.A., Willis, B.L., Harvell, C.D., Sweatman, H., and Melendy, A.M.
2007. Thermal stress and coral cover as drivers of coral disease outbreaks. PLoS Biology 5(6): e124.

Colgan, M.W. 1987. Coral Reef Recovery on Guam (Micronesia) After Catastrophic Predation by
Acanthaster Planci. Ecology 68(6): 1592-1605.

Garrett, P. and H. Ducklow. 1975. Coral diseases in Bermuda. Nature 253: 349-350.

Goreau, T.F. and Wells, J.W. 1967. The shallow-water Scleractinia of Jamaica: Revised list of species and
their vertical distribution range. Bulletin of Marine Science 17: 442-453.

Green, E.P. and Bruckner, A.W. 2000. The significance of coral disease epizootiology for coral reef
conservation. Biological Conservation 96: 347-361.

Jacobson, D.M. 2006. Fine Scale Temporal and Spatial Dynamics of a Marshall Islands Coral Disease
Outbreak: Evidence for Temperature Forcing. EOS, Transactions, American Geophysical Union 87(36):
suppl.

Patterson, K.L., Porter, J.W., Ritchie, K.B., Polson, S.W., Mueller E., Peters, E.C., Santavy, D.L., Smith, G.W.
2002. The etiology of white pox, a lethal disease of the Caribbean elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata. Proc
Natl Acad Sci 99: 8725-8730.

Porter, J.W., Dustan, P., Jaap, W.C., Patterson, K.L., Kosmynin, V., Meier, O.W., Patterson, M.E., and
Parsons, M. 2001. Patterns of spread of coral disease in the Florida Keys. Hydrobiologia 460(1-3): 1-24.

Sutherland, K.P., Porter, J.W., and Torres, C. 2004. Disease and immunity in Caribbean and Indo-Pacific
zooxanthellate corals. Marine ecology progress series 266: 273-302.

Veron, J.E.N. 2000. Corals of the World, Volume 3. Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville MC,
Australia.

Wallace, C.C. 1999. Staghorn Corals of the World: a revision of the coral genus Acropora. CSIRO,
Collingwood.

Weil, E. 2003. The corals and coral reefs of Venezuela. In: Jorge Cortes (ed.), Latin American Coral Reefs,
Elseview Science B.V.

Weil, E. 2004. Coral reef diseases in the wider Caribbean. In: E. Rosenberg and Y. Loya (eds), Coral Health
and Diseases, pp. 35-68. Springer Verlag, NY.

Weil, E. 2006. Coral, Ocotocoral and sponge diversity in the reefs of the Jaragua National Park,
Dominican Republic. Rev. Bio. Trop. 54(2): 423-443.

Wilkinson, C. 2004. Status of coral reefs of the world: 2004. Australian Institute of Marine Science,
Townsville, Queensland, Australia.

© The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Diploria labyrinthiformis – published in 2008. 6
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Willis, B., Page, C and Dinsdale, E. 2004. Coral disease on the Great Barrier Reef. In: E. Rosenber and Y.
Loya (eds), Coral Health and Disease, pp. 69-104. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Citation
Aronson, R., Bruckner, A., Moore, J., Precht, B. & E. Weil. 2008. Diploria labyrinthiformis. The IUCN Red
List of Threatened Species 2008: e.T133257A3657726.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T133257A3657726.en

Disclaimer
To make use of this information, please check the Terms of Use.

External Resources
For Supplementary Material, and for Images and External Links to Additional Information, please see the
Red List website.

© The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Diploria labyrinthiformis – published in 2008. 7
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 Appendix

Habitats
(http://www.iucnredlist.org/technical-documents/classification-schemes)

Major
Habitat Season Suitability
Importance?

9. Marine Neritic -> 9.2. Marine Neritic - Subtidal Rock and Rocky Reefs - Suitable -

9. Marine Neritic -> 9.3. Marine Neritic - Subtidal Loose Rock/pebble/gravel - Marginal -

9. Marine Neritic -> 9.8. Marine Neritic - Coral Reef -> 9.8.1. Outer Reef - Suitable -
Channel

9. Marine Neritic -> 9.8. Marine Neritic - Coral Reef -> 9.8.2. Back Slope - Marginal -

9. Marine Neritic -> 9.8. Marine Neritic - Coral Reef -> 9.8.3. Foreslope - Suitable -
(Outer Reef Slope)

9. Marine Neritic -> 9.8. Marine Neritic - Coral Reef -> 9.8.4. Lagoon - Suitable -

Threats
(http://www.iucnredlist.org/technical-documents/classification-schemes)

Threat Timing Scope Severity Impact Score

1. Residential & commercial development -> 1.1. Ongoing - - -

Housing & urban areas
Stresses: 1. Ecosystem stresses -> 1.1. Ecosystem conversion
1. Ecosystem stresses -> 1.2. Ecosystem degradation

1. Residential & commercial development -> 1.2. Ongoing - - -

Commercial & industrial areas
Stresses: 1. Ecosystem stresses -> 1.1. Ecosystem conversion
1. Ecosystem stresses -> 1.2. Ecosystem degradation

1. Residential & commercial development -> 1.3. Ongoing - - -

Tourism & recreation areas
Stresses: 1. Ecosystem stresses -> 1.1. Ecosystem conversion
1. Ecosystem stresses -> 1.2. Ecosystem degradation

4. Transportation & service corridors -> 4.3. Shipping Ongoing - - -

lanes
Stresses: 1. Ecosystem stresses -> 1.2. Ecosystem degradation

5. Biological resource use -> 5.4. Fishing & harvesting Ongoing - - -

aquatic resources -> 5.4.1. Intentional use:
(subsistence/small scale)
Stresses: 2. Species Stresses -> 2.1. Species mortality

5. Biological resource use -> 5.4. Fishing & harvesting Ongoing - - -

aquatic resources -> 5.4.3. Unintentional effects:
(subsistence/small scale)
Stresses: 2. Species Stresses -> 2.1. Species mortality

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 5. Biological resource use -> 5.4. Fishing & harvesting Ongoing - - -
aquatic resources -> 5.4.6. Motivation
Unknown/Unrecorded
Stresses: 1. Ecosystem stresses -> 1.2. Ecosystem degradation

6. Human intrusions & disturbance -> 6.1. Ongoing - - -

Recreational activities
Stresses: 2. Species Stresses -> 2.2. Species disturbance

8. Invasive & other problematic species & genes -> Ongoing - - -

8.1. Invasive non-native/alien species -> 8.1.1.
Unspecified species
Stresses: 2. Species Stresses -> 2.1. Species mortality
2. Species Stresses -> 2.2. Species disturbance
2. Species Stresses -> 2.3. Indirect species effects ->
2.3.2. Competition

9. Pollution -> 9.1. Domestic & urban waste water -> Ongoing - - -
9.1.3. Type Unknown/Unrecorded
Stresses: 1. Ecosystem stresses -> 1.2. Ecosystem degradation

9. Pollution -> 9.2. Industrial & military effluents -> Ongoing - - -

9.2.3. Type Unknown/Unrecorded
Stresses: 1. Ecosystem stresses -> 1.2. Ecosystem degradation

9. Pollution -> 9.3. Agricultural & forestry effluents -> Ongoing - - -

9.3.2. Soil erosion, sedimentation
Stresses: 1. Ecosystem stresses -> 1.2. Ecosystem degradation

9. Pollution -> 9.3. Agricultural & forestry effluents -> Ongoing - - -

9.3.4. Type Unknown/Unrecorded
Stresses: 1. Ecosystem stresses -> 1.2. Ecosystem degradation

9. Pollution -> 9.5. Air-borne pollutants -> 9.5.3. Ongoing - - -

Ozone
Stresses: 1. Ecosystem stresses -> 1.2. Ecosystem degradation

11. Climate change & severe weather -> 11.3. Ongoing - - -

Temperature extremes
Stresses: 1. Ecosystem stresses -> 1.2. Ecosystem degradation
2. Species Stresses -> 2.1. Species mortality
2. Species Stresses -> 2.2. Species disturbance
2. Species Stresses -> 2.3. Indirect species effects ->
2.3.8. Other

11. Climate change & severe weather -> 11.4. Storms Ongoing - - -
& flooding
Stresses: 1. Ecosystem stresses -> 1.2. Ecosystem degradation

Conservation Actions in Place

(http://www.iucnredlist.org/technical-documents/classification-schemes)

Conservation Actions in Place

In-Place Land/Water Protection and Management

Occur in at least one PA: Yes

© The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Diploria labyrinthiformis – published in 2008. 9
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Conservation Actions Needed
(http://www.iucnredlist.org/technical-documents/classification-schemes)

Conservation Actions Needed

1. Land/water protection -> 1.1. Site/area protection

2. Land/water management -> 2.1. Site/area management

2. Land/water management -> 2.3. Habitat & natural process restoration

3. Species management -> 3.2. Species recovery

3. Species management -> 3.4. Ex-situ conservation -> 3.4.1. Captive breeding/artificial propagation

3. Species management -> 3.4. Ex-situ conservation -> 3.4.2. Genome resource bank

Research Needed
(http://www.iucnredlist.org/technical-documents/classification-schemes)

Research Needed
1. Research -> 1.1. Taxonomy

1. Research -> 1.2. Population size, distribution & trends

1. Research -> 1.3. Life history & ecology

1. Research -> 1.5. Threats

1. Research -> 1.6. Actions

3. Monitoring -> 3.1. Population trends

Additional Data Fields

Distribution
Lower depth limit (m): 43

Upper depth limit (m): 1

Population
Population severely fragmented: No

© The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Diploria labyrinthiformis – published in 2008. 10
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The IUCN Red List Partnership

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ is produced and managed by the IUCN Global Species
Programme, the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) and The IUCN Red List Partnership. The IUCN
Red List Partners are: BirdLife International; Botanic Gardens Conservation International; Conservation
International; Microsoft; NatureServe; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Sapienza University of Rome; Texas
A&M University; Wildscreen; and Zoological Society of London.

THE IUCN RED LIST OF THREATENED SPECIES™