Coral Reef
What is coral?
Coral refers to a group of animals related
to sea anemones and jellyfish. Most corals are found in tropical and
subtropical waters around the world.
All animals in this large group (called
Cnidarians "ni-Dairy-enz") have tentacles with stinging cells called
nematocysts "ne-Mat-oh-sists." All corals have the same basic body
structure. Tentacles containing stinging cells surround a central body
cavity. Corals are placed in two different categories:
Hexacorals - These animals have
6 tentacles or multiples of 6 (i.e. 6, 12, 18, 24…). Their skeleton is
described as "hard" and is usually made up of calcium carbonate.
Books on Hexacorals
Octocorals - These animals
always have 8 tentacles. Skeleton material is described as "soft"
and is made of flexible proteins.
For both groups, the body cavity, or coelom, partially encases the
animal. Coral tentacles capture food (plankton) and sweep sediment
from the surface of the animal.
Where
do corals live?
Reef building corals are found in
tropical and subtropical waters around the world. Corals can be
found in oceans all over the world, on the deep sea floor, and even
under the ice cap! Corals have specific requirements for habitat
conditions. Ecological measurements of living organisms consist of
two broad classes of data. The first is a measure of selected
ecological components (mass, volume, biomass or square area). The
second is a measure of the number of species that make up each of
the selected ecological components. Most coral monitoring projects
use percent cover as a measure of area and species richness or
species diversity as the measure of number of species. For more
information read the pdf file titled "Coral Sea Stats."
How Are
Coral Communities Measured?
Ecological measurements of living
organisms consist of two broad classes of data. Th e
first is a measure of selected ecological components (mass, volume,
biomass or square area). The second is a measure of the number of
species that make up each of the selected ecological components.
Most coral monitoring projects use percent cover as a measure of
area and species richness or species diversity as the measure of
number of species. For more information about Florida's coral reefs
read
Coral Sea Stats. See the
Coral Reef Monitoring Project for more information about
coral monitoring programs at the Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission.
Vocabulary Quiz
What is the difference between
"hard grounds" and "hardbottom"? Answer: "Hard grounds" is a
geological descriptor. The term describes the geological character
of the substrate, but does not describe the overlying biological
benthos in any way. "Hardbottom" is a biological descriptor which
characterizes the living benthos. It happens that hardbottom
habitat, with a thin veneer of sand, usually overlies hard grounds,
but not always. "Hardbottom" and "live bottom" are functionally
interchangeable terms; however, "live bottom" is a more general
descriptor than "hardbottom." If you perform a search, bear in mind
that "hardbottom" is the preferred term; but "hard bottom" spelled
as two words is not favored in the literature.
Help For South Florida Reefs
The Southeast Florida Coral
Reef Initiative (SEFCRI) is a local action strategy for
collaborative action among government and non-governmental partners
to identify and implement priority actions needed to reduce key
threats to coral reef resources in southeast Florida. The targeted
area includes Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Martin counties.
Learn more at their
website.
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Florida Keys Coral Habitat
Hardbottom habitats are generally dominated by octocorals with
low hard coral cover and species diversity.
Patch reef habitats are usually characterized by high diversity
of both octocorals and stony corals. Stony corals are often
represented by large buttresses of boulder corals
Shallow offshore habitats are high-energy environments with
large branching corals and expanses of bladed fire coral and yellow
sea-mat (a different type of Cnidarian called zooanthid).
Deep offshore reef habitats are inhabited by a diverse array
of benthic (bottom dwelling) organisms including large sponges,
octocorals, and stony corals.
Text and photographs provided by
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's (FWC) Florida
Marine Research Institute (FMRI) |
