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Amphimedon compressa can grow to a length of 40 cm (16 in) and a diameter of 4 cm (1.6 in), but it is usually smaller in shallow water. The tree-like curved branches grow from a basal encrusting mass, but very occasionally this sponge grows as a small, unbranched, flattened hemisphere.
Acropora is a genus of small polyp stony coral in the phylum Cnidaria. [3] Some of its species are known as table coral, elkhorn coral, and staghorn coral. Over 149 species are described. [4] Acropora species are some of the major reef corals responsible for building the immense calcium carbonate substructure that supports the thin living skin ...
Paragorgia arborea is a species of coral in the family Paragorgiidae, commonly known as the bubblegum coral because of its bulbous branch tips. It mainly grows in depths between 200 and 1,300 metres (700 and 4,300 ft) at temperatures between 3 and 8 °C (37 and 46 °F).
The giant barrel sponge (Xestospongia muta) is the largest species of sponge found growing on Caribbean coral reefs. It is common at depths greater than 10 metres (33 ft) down to 120 metres (390 ft) and can reach a diameter of 1.8 metres (6 feet). It is typically brownish-red to brownish-gray in color, with a hard or stony texture. [3]
Branching corals of the genus Acropora are among the fastest-growing taxa on most coral reefs. A. hyacinthus has an average growth rate that ranges from 3–10 centimetres (1.2–3.9 in) diameter increase per year, with much of this variation thought to be a response to temperature, in addition to competition and other abiotic and biotic factors.
Each head of coral is formed by a colony of genetically identical polyps which secrete a hard skeleton of calcium carbonate; this makes them important coral reef builders like other stony corals in the order Scleractinia. Brain corals are found in shallow warm water coral reefs in all the world's oceans.
A 1997 reef transect study showed that octocorals, such as L. arboreum, compose under 20% of soft coral coverage on both reef flats, and the upper fore-reefs in the Gulf of Umm al-Rashrash, off the East coast of the Sinai Peninsula. [5] Typically in Gulf of Umm al-Rashrash reefs, octocoral coverage is dominated by carpets of a few species. [5]
Araucaria columnaris, the coral reef araucaria, Cook pine (or Cook's pine), New Caledonia pine, Cook araucaria, or columnar araucaria, is a species of conifer in the family Araucariaceae. Distribution