Staghorn Coral in a Hurricane

Corals like this staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis, are particularly susceptible to fragmenting during a powerful hurricane. When Hurricane Allen hit Jamaican reefs in 1980, it destroyed, overturned and fragmented corals.  Five months after the storm, the species was 100 times less abundant than it had been immediately after the storm because of predation by snails, urchins, and damselfish on the survivors. Instead of reviving, the staghorn coral population collapsed.