What types of coral are there?

Answer 1

(In the world)

There are over 500,000 species in the 600,000 square miles of coral reefs. Millions of species of fish, eels, sponges, grasses, algae, mollusks, crabs, worms, and other marine animals use reefs as homes or as nurseries for their young. Tons of coral make up the coral reefs. After the coral dies, it leaves its skeletons, made of calcium carbonate, behind. There are three different kinds of reefs: fringing reefs, barrier reefs, and atolls. The reefs that are near shore and are separated from land by low water are called fringing reefs. Reefs that are at least 10 kilometers away from land are called barrier reefs. A circular coral island that is far away from land is called an atoll. Atolls form when coral develops on a volcanic island that has sunk below the water. For any of these reefs to form takes hundreds of years. It may take up to 100 years for an inch of coral reef to grow. hope this has helped you.

Answer 2

There are two types of coral. Hard and soft. Examples of Hard Corals: Elkhorn, massive, brain, table, pillar, foliase NOTE: Only HARD corals build reefs. Hard corals are also the only corals that HAVE to grow on/near the equatorial line. There is a brown algae that grows inside corals called zoxanthellae. The zoxanthellae needs sunlight, so the hard types of coral grow where they can help the zoxanthellae grow. Zoxanthellae helps the hard corals grow three times bigger than without it. That is how they build reefs. Reefs are in all oceans but the South Atlantic. Examples of Soft Corals: Sea Whips, Sea Fingers, Sea Fans NOTE: Soft corals can grow in cold waters. They are unlike the hard corals who must grow in warmer waters.

Answer 3

There are many ways to describe kinds of corals. First, types of corals you could see while snorkeling or Scuba diving are:

Diploria spp. (brain coral)

Siderastrea spp. (starlet coral)

Montastria spp. (star coral)

Porites astreoides (mustard coral)

Millepora spp. (fire coral)

Acropora palmate (elkhorn coral)

Acropora cervicornis (staghorn coral)

Agaricia agaricites (lettuce coral)

Porites porites (club finger coral)

Dendrogyra cylindricus (pillar coral)

Second, corals are in the phylum Cnidaria and class Anthozoa. There are two types of corals under Anthozoa: hexacorallia (hard corals) and octocorallia (soft corals). Hexacorallia have six-fold symmetry and Octocorallia have eight-fold symmetry. Hexacorallia is a subclass under Anthozoa and its orders (non-extinct ones) are Corallimorpharia, Rugosa, Scleractinia, Actiniaria, Tabulata, and Zoantharia. The Octocorallias resemble stony corals in their appearance and size, however they lack the distinctive stony skeleton. Families of this order are Alcyonacea, Helioporacea, and Pennatulacea.

Third, corals can be heratypic or ahermatypic. Hermatypic corals are hard corals that build reefs. They also contain zooxanthellae (an endosymbiont protozoa that photosynthesizes and gives the carbon products to the coral for energy). Ahermatypic corals do not have zooxanthellae and do not build reefs. They're also soft corals.

Third, under Anthozoa, there's the subclass Zoantharia, and order Scleractinia (which are stony corals). Within Scleractinia are 15 families, 4 of them are Acroporidae, Faviidae, Poritidae, and Pocilloporidae. Acroporidae corals are the most common, are diverse (hundreds of species), and are fast growing. Faviidae and Poritidae are massive (they grow linearly) and slow growing. Pocilloporidae are branching with verrucae.

Fourth, corals can be either perforate or imperforate. The perforate corals have a porous body or skeleton, allowing their polyps to connect to each other. The imperforate corals have solid skeletons.

Thus, there are many kinds of corals and many ways to describe them.

Answer 4

hard and soft corals

Answer 5

What algae is found in coral tissue