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A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. ... When alive, corals are colonies ... which includes the shells of old or dead ...
Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton. A coral "group" is a colony of very many genetically identical polyps. Each polyp is a sac-like animal typically only a few millimeters in diameter and a few centimeters in height.
Some coral species monitored had a mortality rate of 95%, with researchers observing the start of “colony collapse” where the dead skeleton detaches from the reef and turns to rubble.
In the five reefs the team visited, they did see some wild coral alive and well, Lesneski said. Brain or boulder coral seemed to do better, but still had large amounts of death, she said.
The name sometimes leads to misunderstandings, as the "live rock" itself is not actually alive, but rather is simply made from the aragonite skeletons of long dead corals, or other calcareous organisms, which in the ocean form the majority of coral reefs.
South Florida researchers trying to prevent predatory fish from devouring laboratory-grown coral are grasping at biodegradable straws in an effort to restore what some call the rainforest of the sea.
A structural equation model spanning the Caribbean evinced versatility in reef fish, showing they associated with rugosity without regard for whether the coral was alive or dead. However, some declines due to stony coral tissue loss disease were still projected by the model, especially due to coral die-offs and loss of rugosity. [8]
But it’s not too late to intervene.