Soft Corals :: Ecology Great Barrier Reef Essays

Soft Corals Organisms of the order Alcyonacea, more commonly referred to as soft corals, are fascinating and poorly-understood animals. Although they are Cnidarians, and thus among the simplest of all animals, they have developed remarkable ways of thriving in the Great Barrier Reef and all over the world. They possess symbiotic relationships, special toxins, and several different methods of reproduction, each helping to ensure the survival of the various soft coral species. The purpose of this paper is to investigate physiological and ecological aspects of soft corals, especially the purposes and benefits behind their many reproductive strategies. Taxonomy: What is a soft coral? Soft corals are members of the phylum Cnidaria, meaning they have stinging cells, a gastrovascular cavity, and are radially symmetrical. They belong to the class Anthozoa, which also includes hard corals, sea fans, and anemones. Soft corals, sea fans, and sea pens are sometimes referred to as octocorals, as they have eight tentacles on each polyp. All soft corals belong to the order Alcyonacea, which is composed of several families (Order Alcyonacea 1995-2005.) The most common families on the Great Barrier Reef are Alcyoniidae, Nephtheidae, and Xeniidae. Corals in the family Alcyoniidae are often large and fleshy with medium-sized polyps, but can have many different forms. Xeniid corals have large polyps, usually in pale colors, and some of them pulsate. Corals that belong to Nephtheidae have small polyps, and are often branched and tree-like. Less common families on the Great Barrier Reef include Nidaliidae and Astrospiculariidae (Fabricius and De’ath 2002. ) Life Cycle Soft corals begin their lives as small, featureless free-swimming larvae called planulae (Alderslade and Fabricius 2002.) Planulae generally drift in a planktonic state for several days before finding an acceptable substrate. This allows soft corals to spread throughout large reefs like the GBR (Bastidas et al. 2001,) and also lets them colonize reefs around the world if the planulae are picked up by large ocean currents. The main element that qualifies a substrate as acceptable for a soft coral is the amount of light it receives, although water temperature and the strength of the current are also important factors. Soft Corals :: Ecology Great Barrier Reef Essays Soft Corals Organisms of the order Alcyonacea, more commonly referred to as soft corals, are fascinating and poorly-understood animals. Although they are Cnidarians, and thus among the simplest of all animals, they have developed remarkable ways of thriving in the Great Barrier Reef and all over the world. They possess symbiotic relationships, special toxins, and several different methods of reproduction, each helping to ensure the survival of the various soft coral species. The purpose of this paper is to investigate physiological and ecological aspects of soft corals, especially the purposes and benefits behind their many reproductive strategies. Taxonomy: What is a soft coral? Soft corals are members of the phylum Cnidaria, meaning they have stinging cells, a gastrovascular cavity, and are radially symmetrical. They belong to the class Anthozoa, which also includes hard corals, sea fans, and anemones. Soft corals, sea fans, and sea pens are sometimes referred to as octocorals, as they have eight tentacles on each polyp. All soft corals belong to the order Alcyonacea, which is composed of several families (Order Alcyonacea 1995-2005.) The most common families on the Great Barrier Reef are Alcyoniidae, Nephtheidae, and Xeniidae. Corals in the family Alcyoniidae are often large and fleshy with medium-sized polyps, but can have many different forms. Xeniid corals have large polyps, usually in pale colors, and some of them pulsate. Corals that belong to Nephtheidae have small polyps, and are often branched and tree-like. Less common families on the Great Barrier Reef include Nidaliidae and Astrospiculariidae (Fabricius and De’ath 2002. ) Life Cycle Soft corals begin their lives as small, featureless free-swimming larvae called planulae (Alderslade and Fabricius 2002.) Planulae generally drift in a planktonic state for several days before finding an acceptable substrate. This allows soft corals to spread throughout large reefs like the GBR (Bastidas et al. 2001,) and also lets them colonize reefs around the world if the planulae are picked up by large ocean currents. The main element that qualifies a substrate as acceptable for a soft coral is the amount of light it receives, although water temperature and the strength of the current are also important factors.