Zooplankton feeding by corals underestimated

Research by marine biologists from Wageningen University has shown that feeding on zooplankton by scleractinian corals has been greatly underestimated.

Octocorals found to be reef builders

Scientists from Taiwan and Israel have found that octocorals are important reef builders. This exciting discovery makes us rethink the very nature of coral reefs.

Flatworms compete with corals for zooplankton

Epizoic coral flatworms have been found to compete with their coral host for zooplankton. This finding is in agreement with the theory that symbiotic coral flatworms are parasitic.

Small polyps do capture zooplankton

Small polyped stony corals are often believed to simply rely on strong lighting and dissolved nutrients. But even these corals capture significant amounts of plankton.

Alveopora gigas

Written by Tim Wijgerde

Taxonomy:

Alveopora gigas (Veron, 1985)

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Cnidaria

Class: Anthozoa

Subclass: Hexacorallia

Order: Scleractinia

Family: Poritidae

Genus: Alveopora

Species: gigas

Alveopora gigas is a hermatypic, zooxanthellate coral. Species from this genus all harbour zooxanthellae. Alveopora spp. have polyps with twelve tentacles, unlike their close relatives from the genus Goniopora which all have 24. These corals thrive in plankton-rich waters. Plankton uptake is usually not visible macroscopically, however particles in the pico- and nanoplankton ranges (2 - 20 μm), such as bacteria and small protozoa, may be taken up by beating cilia and flagella located on and inside the polyps.

Author:

Tim Wijgerde

References:

Veron, J.E.N. and M. Stafford Smith, 2000. Corals of the world. Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville. 1382 pp.

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Zooplankton feeding by corals underestimated

Octocorals found to be reef builders

Flatworms compete with corals for zooplankton

Small polyps do capture zooplankton