lionfish99
Member
What exactly is coral? What is it made of, how does it eat, I just don't understand!!! Please explain to me what it REALLY is
What Is Coral?
- Thread starter lionfish99
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exile415
Guest
IMO it's a pretty rock
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exile415
Guest
i forgot to add something sorry, IMO it's an ALIVE pretty rock
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exile415
Guest
it's a LIVE rock :joy:
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exile415
Guest
i forgot to add that also .. LOL .. corals are LIVING BEAUTIFUL ROCK/ANIMALS
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exile415
Guest
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exile415
Guest
Okay. LOL Corals Are Living BEAUTIFUL animals
http://www.coralseadiving.com/corals..._structure.htm
So none of you know, right?
So none of you know, right?
speg
Active Member
Originally Posted by Lionfish99
What exactly is coral? What is it made of, how does it eat, I just don't understand!!! Please explain to me what it REALLY is
A coral REALLY is a animal or animals.
They are made of.... coral
Depending on what kinda coral it is.. some are very soft and delicate and absorb a lot of water to expand themselves, some are very leathery to the touch, some are very very hard and made up of calcium.. similiar to a bone.. some have both hard and soft features on the same animal.. for example your 'large polyp stony' corals.
They eat all sorts of things.. depending again on what kinda coral it is.. some filter micro-organisms from the water, some eat meaty foods such as fish/shrimp/etc... and a lot of coral actually have a symbiotic algae growing inside their tissue that feeds them.
What exactly is coral? What is it made of, how does it eat, I just don't understand!!! Please explain to me what it REALLY is
A coral REALLY is a animal or animals.
They are made of.... coral
Depending on what kinda coral it is.. some are very soft and delicate and absorb a lot of water to expand themselves, some are very leathery to the touch, some are very very hard and made up of calcium.. similiar to a bone.. some have both hard and soft features on the same animal.. for example your 'large polyp stony' corals.They eat all sorts of things.. depending again on what kinda coral it is.. some filter micro-organisms from the water, some eat meaty foods such as fish/shrimp/etc... and a lot of coral actually have a symbiotic algae growing inside their tissue that feeds them.
saltyfishy
Member
Originally Posted by exile415
IMO it's a pretty rock
Yeah pretty expensive rock...But well worth it!
IMO it's a pretty rock
Yeah pretty expensive rock...But well worth it!
sammiefish
Member
cor·al (kôr'əl, kŏr'-) pronunciation
n.
1.
1. A rocklike deposit consisting of the calcareous skeletons secreted by various anthozoans. Coral deposits often accumulate to form reefs or islands in warm seas.
2. Any of numerous chiefly colonial marine polyps of the class Anthozoa that secrete such calcareous skeletons.
3. The red-orange, pinkish, or white deposits secreted by corals of the genus Corallium, used to make jewelry and ornaments.
4. An object made of this material.
coral, small, sedentary marine animal, related to the sea anemone but characterized by a skeleton of horny or calcareous material. The skeleton itself is also called coral. Although most corals form colonies by budding, there are some solitary corals; in both types the individual animals, called polyps, resemble the sea anemone in form.
Corals grow in warm and temperate climates and in the cold water found at greater depths, but they are most abundant in warm, shallow water; over 200 coral species are found in the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. In many shallow-water species the polyps contain unicellular plants, which may provide the high oxygen concentration required by such corals.
Stony Corals
In the large group known as stony corals, or true corals (Madreporaria), each polyp secretes a cup-shaped skeleton, the theca, around itself. Some solitary corals of that group may reach a diameter of 10 in. (25 cm); in the colonial forms the individual polyps are usually under 1/8 in. (3 mm) long, but the colonies may be enormous. The body of each polyp is saclike, consisting of a wall of jellylike material surrounding a digestive cavity, with a single opening, the mouth, at the unattached end. The mouth is surrounded by tentacles used to capture small prey and is invaginated to form a pharynx leading into the body cavity. Thin sheets of tissue (mesentaries) extend radially from the wall to the pharynx, dividing the cavity. A second set of radial divisions is created by folds (septa) of the outer skeleton and body wall, which extend upward from the floor of the body cavity. Reproduction occurs both sexually and by budding. Sexual reproduction is by means of eggs and sperm, which are produced in the mesentaries and shed into the water. Fertilization results in a free-swimming larva, which attaches to a surface and secretes a skeleton, becoming (in colonial forms) the parent of a new colony.
As new polyps are produced by budding they remain attached to each other by thin sheets of living tissue as well as by newly secreted skeletal material. The great variety in the form of various colonial corals, which may be treelike and branching, or rounded and compact, depends chiefly on the method of budding of the particular species. In the brain corals, for example, each theca merges with the one next to it on either side, forming long rows of polyps separated by deep channels. In some of the branching corals the polyps occupy small, discrete pits on the surface of the skeleton. As a colonial coral produces more polyps the lower members die and new layers are built up on the old skeleton, forming a large mass. In tropical and subtropical regions these massive corals, along with other plants and animals, may form a coral reef. Most of the reef-forming corals belong to the stony coral group.
Soft Corals
The soft corals (Alcyonaria) are a group of soft, often feathery forms, with skeletons composed of calcareous or horny particles imbedded in the body wall. Each polyp of a soft coral has eight tentacles. Among the well-known soft corals are the sea pen, sea pansy, whip coral, and organpipe coral. The precious red coral (Corallium) of the Mediterranean Sea, used for jewelry, also belongs to that group. The spicules of its skeleton are fused together.
Classification
Stony and soft corals are classified in the phylum Cnidaria, class Anthozoa.
(from answers.com)
n.
1.
1. A rocklike deposit consisting of the calcareous skeletons secreted by various anthozoans. Coral deposits often accumulate to form reefs or islands in warm seas.
2. Any of numerous chiefly colonial marine polyps of the class Anthozoa that secrete such calcareous skeletons.
3. The red-orange, pinkish, or white deposits secreted by corals of the genus Corallium, used to make jewelry and ornaments.
4. An object made of this material.
coral, small, sedentary marine animal, related to the sea anemone but characterized by a skeleton of horny or calcareous material. The skeleton itself is also called coral. Although most corals form colonies by budding, there are some solitary corals; in both types the individual animals, called polyps, resemble the sea anemone in form.
Corals grow in warm and temperate climates and in the cold water found at greater depths, but they are most abundant in warm, shallow water; over 200 coral species are found in the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. In many shallow-water species the polyps contain unicellular plants, which may provide the high oxygen concentration required by such corals.
Stony Corals
In the large group known as stony corals, or true corals (Madreporaria), each polyp secretes a cup-shaped skeleton, the theca, around itself. Some solitary corals of that group may reach a diameter of 10 in. (25 cm); in the colonial forms the individual polyps are usually under 1/8 in. (3 mm) long, but the colonies may be enormous. The body of each polyp is saclike, consisting of a wall of jellylike material surrounding a digestive cavity, with a single opening, the mouth, at the unattached end. The mouth is surrounded by tentacles used to capture small prey and is invaginated to form a pharynx leading into the body cavity. Thin sheets of tissue (mesentaries) extend radially from the wall to the pharynx, dividing the cavity. A second set of radial divisions is created by folds (septa) of the outer skeleton and body wall, which extend upward from the floor of the body cavity. Reproduction occurs both sexually and by budding. Sexual reproduction is by means of eggs and sperm, which are produced in the mesentaries and shed into the water. Fertilization results in a free-swimming larva, which attaches to a surface and secretes a skeleton, becoming (in colonial forms) the parent of a new colony.
As new polyps are produced by budding they remain attached to each other by thin sheets of living tissue as well as by newly secreted skeletal material. The great variety in the form of various colonial corals, which may be treelike and branching, or rounded and compact, depends chiefly on the method of budding of the particular species. In the brain corals, for example, each theca merges with the one next to it on either side, forming long rows of polyps separated by deep channels. In some of the branching corals the polyps occupy small, discrete pits on the surface of the skeleton. As a colonial coral produces more polyps the lower members die and new layers are built up on the old skeleton, forming a large mass. In tropical and subtropical regions these massive corals, along with other plants and animals, may form a coral reef. Most of the reef-forming corals belong to the stony coral group.
Soft Corals
The soft corals (Alcyonaria) are a group of soft, often feathery forms, with skeletons composed of calcareous or horny particles imbedded in the body wall. Each polyp of a soft coral has eight tentacles. Among the well-known soft corals are the sea pen, sea pansy, whip coral, and organpipe coral. The precious red coral (Corallium) of the Mediterranean Sea, used for jewelry, also belongs to that group. The spicules of its skeleton are fused together.
Classification
Stony and soft corals are classified in the phylum Cnidaria, class Anthozoa.
(from answers.com)
sammiefish
Member
theres more here
http://www.answers.com/topic/reef
http://www.answers.com/topic/reef