GATA transcription factors play an important role in plant growth and devel- opment, nutrient metabolism and environmental stress responses. Currently, there are few studies on the gene families of mangrove plants. In this study, bioinformatics methods were used to identify GATA family genes in Acanthus ilicifolius, and their subfamily classification, gene structure and phylogenetic characteristics were analyzed. The structure showed that a total of 95 GATA family genes were identified and divided into 4 subfamilies, and they had GATA conserved functional domains. Analysis of physical and chemical properties showed that its ORF was 231-1653 bp, the number of encoded amino acids was 77-551 aa, and the theoretical isoelectric point was 4.9-10.8. Gene structure and motif analysis showed that GATA genes in the same subfamily maintained consistent gene structure and conserved motifs, and amino acid homology alignment showed that there was a GATA conserved zinc finger domain. Chromosomal localization GATA transcription factors are distributed on 42 chromosomes of Acanthus ilicifolius, and a pair of biosynthetic cluster genes were found in the chromosome 34. Transcript data and qRT-PCR results showed that GATA expression was tissue-specific, GATA expression was strongly induced under high salinity stress, and there was expression was significantly up-regulated in roots at 12 h and significantly expressed in stems at 48 h. These results provide a theoretical and scientific basis for exploring the regulatory functions of GATA gene in the growth and development of Acanthus ilicifolius.