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A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals.Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. [1] Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups.
Coral fragments known as "seeds" are grown in nurseries then replanted on the reef. [149] Coral is farmed by coral farmers who live locally to the reefs and farm for reef conservation or for income. It is also farmed by scientists for research, by businesses for the supply of the live and ornamental coral trade and by private aquarium hobbyists.
Coral reef farming involves extracting a part of a coral colony or free-floating larvae from a reef, and growing them in a nursery until outplanting [5] would be successful. It is commonly referred to as the "gardening method" and has been compared to silviculture as a management practice that mimics natural ecosystems.
Orbicella annularis at Molasses Reef, Florida Keys. Orbicella annularis, commonly known as the Boulder star coral, is a species of coral that lives in the western Atlantic Ocean and is the most thoroughly studied and most abundant species of reef-building coral in the Caribbean to date. [3] It also has a comprehensive fossil record within the ...
These corals are slow growers and do not contribute to coral reef development (ahermatypic).Unlike many tropical corals, they are azooxanthellate or non-photosynthetic, meaning that they do not live in symbiosis with zooxanthellae in their tissues, allowing them to grow in complete darkness as long as they can capture enough food.
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