Agaricia agaricites
Spot Lettuce Coral on reefs across Bonaire, Grand Cayman, and the Bahamas. Ruffled plates, warm water, and peak sightings in March, April and September.
Lettuce coral forms low, overlapping plates or leaf-like sheets that curve and ruffle at the edges, closely resembling the leaves of a head of lettuce. Colonies are typically shades of olive green, grey-brown, or tan, and the surface is covered in fine, parallel ridges running from the centre outward. On the reef it tends to hug ledges or slope gently across rock faces rather than building tall structures. The ruffled, layered plate shape is the single clearest ID cue and separates it from most other encrusting corals at a glance.
Lettuce coral is fixed in place, anchored to whatever hard substrate it settled on as a larva, so there is no movement to watch for. What you will observe is its passive role as part of the reef framework: polyps may be extended at night, but during daylight dives the surface often looks textured but still. Look instead at what lives on or around it: small fish shelter in the gaps between plates, and you may catch invertebrates grazing along the ridges.
Like other reef-building corals, lettuce coral hosts zooxanthellae (symbiotic algae living in its tissue) that supply much of its energy through photosynthesis, which is why colonies tend to orient their plates to maximise light exposure.
Sightings in the northern hemisphere concentrate around March, April and again in September, which likely reflects when divers are most active on these reefs rather than any seasonal absence of the coral itself. Water temperatures in the 26-29 °C range across its Caribbean range mean the coral is present year-round.
Reef neighbours a diver could mistake it for. Use the identification notes above to tell them apart.
Lettuce coral is most widely logged across the Caribbean, with particularly strong representation in Bonaire, the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, Cuba, and Curaçao. Grand Cayman, Klein Bonaire, and New Providence in the Bahamas consistently produce sightings, as do reef systems along the Caribbean coasts of Colombia and Venezuela. Brazil's northeast coast adds a notable Atlantic stronghold outside the Caribbean proper.
Mapping where Lettuce Coral is logged…
Lettuce coral is most reliably seen across Caribbean reef systems. Bonaire, Grand Cayman, the Bahamas, Cuba, and Curaçao are among the top locations, with solid sightings also reported along the Caribbean coasts of Colombia and Venezuela, and on Brazil's northeast coast.
Sighting records from northern hemisphere dive sites peak in March, April and again in September. Because the coral itself is a permanent fixture on the reef and water temperatures stay warm year-round, you can encounter it on any dive; those months simply reflect when diver traffic is highest at the top sites.
Look for low, overlapping plate-like colonies with distinctly ruffled or wavy edges, olive green to grey-brown in colour, with fine ridges running outward across the surface. The layered, lettuce-leaf shape is the key feature. Cauliflower coral can look superficially similar but tends to form more branching or lumpy masses rather than flat, ruffled sheets.
Individual colonies can range from a few centimetres across to plate clusters covering half a metre or more of reef surface. Growth is slow, so large, well-developed colonies represent many decades of accumulation.
Lettuce coral is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN, meaning populations have declined to a level of concern. Bleaching events driven by elevated sea temperatures and outbreaks of stony coral tissue loss disease are the main current threats across its Caribbean range.
Lettuce coral has one of the broader depth ranges among Caribbean reef corals, recorded anywhere from the shallows at around 1 metre down to roughly 75 metres. Shallow-water colonies rely heavily on their zooxanthellae for energy, while deeper colonies tend to form wider, flatter plates to capture what little light reaches them.
The Lettuce Coral is listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. Observe from a distance, avoid touching or feeding it, and report sightings to local marine research organisations.
Lettuce coral is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, reflecting ongoing losses from bleaching, disease, and reef degradation across the Caribbean. Divers should maintain good buoyancy to avoid contact with colonies and report any signs of bleaching or disease to local reef-monitoring programmes.
Site and sighting data is aggregated from diver logs, iNaturalist and GBIF. For taxonomy and conservation status:
Plate Coral
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