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.

Rhizotrochus typus

Written by Tim Wijgerde

Taxonomy:

Rhizotrochus typus (Milne-Edwards & Haime, 1848)

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Cnidaria

Class: Anthozoa

Subclass: Hexacorallia

Order: Scleractinia

Suborder: Caryophylliina

Family: Flabellidae

Genus: Rhizotrochus

Species: typus

Rhizotrochus typus is a reef building coral, which has not formed a mutualistic symbiosis with zooxanthellae. Species from the Flabellidae family likely occur up to several kilometers in depth, in the Indo-Pacific region. They feed on plankton, detritus, crustaceans, fish and possibly dissolved organic molecules. R. typus is exported for the aquarium trade. These corals require ample feeding with crustaceans and small fish.

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