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Many soft corals are easily collected in the wild for the reef aquarium hobby, as small cuttings are less prone to infection or damage during shipping than stony corals. Nevertheless, home-grown specimens tend to be more adaptable to aquarium life and help conserve wild reefs.
Corals reproduce both sexually and asexually. An individual polyp uses both reproductive modes within its lifetime. Corals reproduce sexually by either internal or external fertilization. The reproductive cells are found on the mesenteries, membranes that radiate inward from the layer of tissue that lines the stomach cavity. Some mature adult ...
Anthozoans are exclusively marine, and include sea anemones, stony corals, soft corals, sea pens, sea fans and sea pansies. Anthozoa is the largest taxon of cnidarians; over six thousand solitary and colonial species have been described. They range in size from small individuals less than half a centimetre across to large colonies a metre or ...
Callogorgia is a genus of soft corals in the family Primnoidae. Callogorgia exhibit a fan shaped body structure that often serves as a habitat for other organisms. [2] [3] Callogorgia are a relatively recently researched genus, with most studies occurring in the last 40 years. [3]
The planktonic larvae of the corals could colonise suitable new areas, but for corals in places like the Great Barrier Reef; the required migration rate is about 15 km per year, which is much faster than corals can grow. [2] Another downside is that ocean acidification impacts are more severe in cooler waters. [8]
Like other soft corals, Alcyonium coralloides is a suspension feeder. The polyps spread their pinnate tentacles wide and passively gather zooplankton and organic particles from the water flowing past. [3] By colonising gorgonians, Alcyonium coralloides is raised above the surface of the substrate. This is advantageous to it as the water flow ...
Primnoa pacifica or red tree coral is a species of soft coral in the family Primnoidae. It is a deep water coral found in the North Pacific Ocean, and plays an integral role in supporting benthic ecosystems. Red tree corals grow axially and radially, producing structures of calcite and gorgonian skeletons that form dense thickets.
Like all shallow-dwelling corals, P. cylindrica gametes are buoyant, and float to the surface of the water to merge. [9] The brooding coral internally fertilizes its eggs, which contain the algae zooxanthellae evenly distributed within, allowing the new coral larvae to be born having already established a relationship with their symbiotic algal ...