Coral
hideAlcyonaria Alcyonacea Helioporacea Zoantharia Antipatharia Corallimorpharia Scleractinia Zoanthidea See Anthozoa for details
Corals are marine organisms from the class Anthozoa and exist as small sea anemone-like polyps, typically in colonies of many identical individuals. The group includes the important reef builders that are found in tropical oceans, which secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.
A coral "head", commonly perceived to be a single organism, is formed from myriads of individual but genetically identical polyps, each polyp only a few millimeters in diameter. Over thousands of generations, the polyps lay down a skeleton that is characteristic of their species. An individual head of coral grows by asexual reproduction of the individual polyps. Corals also breed sexually by spawning, with corals of the same species releasing gametes simultaneously over a period of one to several nights around a full moon.
Although corals can catch small fish and animals such as plankton using stinging cells on their tentacles, these animals obtain most of their nutrients from photosynthetic unicellular algae called zooxanthellae. Consequently, most corals depend on sunlight and grow in clear and shallow water, typically at depths shallower than 60 m (200 ft). These corals can be major contributors to the physical structure of the coral reefs that develop in tropical and subtropical waters, such as the enormous Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Other corals do not have associated algae and can live in much deeper water, with the cold-water genus Lophelia surviving as deep as 3000 m. Examples of these can be found living on the Darwin Mounds located north-west of Cape Wrath, Scotland. Corals have also been found off the coast of Washington State and the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.
Corals coordinate behaviour by communicating with each other.
For more information about Coral, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with coral
New predictions for sea level rise
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jul 27, 2009 |
4.1 / 5 (25) |
12
Fossil coral data and temperature records derived from ice-core measurements have been used to place better constraints on future sea level rise, and to test sea level projections.
Coral face 'a stormy future'
Jun 23, 2009 |
4 / 5 (20) |
1
As global warming whips up more powerful and frequent hurricanes and storms, the world's coral reefs face increased disruption to their ability to breed and recover from damage.
Coral reefs found growing in cold, deep ocean
Nov 04, 2008 |
4.2 / 5 (18) |
11
Imagine descending in a submarine to the ice-cold, ink-black depths of the ocean, 800 metres under the surface of the Atlantic. Here the tops of the hills are covered in large coral reefs. NIOZ-researcher Furu Mienis studied ...
Loss of coastal seagrass habitat accelerating globally
Jun 29, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (16) |
2
An international team of scientists warns that accelerating losses of seagrasses across the globe threaten the immediate health and long-term sustainability of coastal ecosystems. The team has compiled and analyzed the first ...
Ocean acidification is accelerating and severe damages are imminent
Jan 30, 2009 |
2.8 / 5 (25) |
27
Urgent action is needed to limit damages to marine ecosystems, including coral reefs and fisheries, due to increasing ocean acidity, according to 155 of the world’s scientific experts who will release the Monaco Declaration ...
Modest CO2 cutbacks may be too little, too late for coral reefs
Sep 22, 2008 |
2.7 / 5 (25) |
28
How much carbon dioxide is too much? According to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) greenhouse gases in the atmosphere need to be stabilized at levels low enough to "prevent dangerous anthropogenic ...
Extinction by asteroid a rarity: 'Sick Earth' extinctions more likely
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 07, 2008 |
3.7 / 5 (18) |
7
In geology as in cancer research, the silver bullet theory always gets the headlines and nearly always turns out to be wrong.
Global sunscreen won't save corals
Jun 16, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (13) |
1
Emergency plans to counteract global warming by artificially shading the Earth from incoming sunlight might lower the planet's temperature a few degrees, but such "geoengineering" solutions would do little to stop the acidification ...
Rising CO2 'will hit reefs harder'
Oct 27, 2008 |
3.1 / 5 (18) |
6
(PhysOrg.com) -- Rising CO2 levels in the world's oceans could deliver a disastrous blow to the ability of coral reefs to withstand climate change.
Red Sea coral seen to feed on jellyfish
Nov 17, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (12) |
2
(PhysOrg.com) -- Corals depends on the products of photosynthetic algae for most of their food, but they also eat tiny plankton. Now, for the first time, there is evidence of a coral eating jellyfish.
Reef boom beats doom
Apr 21, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (12) |
4
(PhysOrg.com) -- Marine scientists say they are astonished at the spectacular recovery of certain coral reefs in Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park from a devastating coral bleaching event in 2006.
Humans 'damaging the oceans': research
Jul 29, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (10) |
14
Mounting evidence that human activity is changing the world's oceans in profound and damaging ways is outlined in a new scientific discussion paper released today.
Historical photographs expose decline in Florida's reef fish, study finds
Biology /
Feb 17, 2009 |
4.1 / 5 (9) |
5
A unique study by a scientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has provided fresh evidence of fishing's impact on marine ecosystems. Scripps Oceanography graduate student researcher Loren ...
Coral reefs may start dissolving when atmospheric CO2 doubles
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Mar 09, 2009 |
3.2 / 5 (11) |
8
Rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the resulting effects on ocean water are making it increasingly difficult for coral reefs to grow, say scientists. A study to be published online March 13, 2009 in ...
Great Barrier Reef under serious threat: report
Sep 02, 2009 |
3.4 / 5 (10) |
1
Australia's Great Barrier Reef is in serious jeopardy as global warming and chemical runoff threaten to kill marine species and cause serious outbreaks of disease, a report warned Wednesday.
