what do shallow water stoney corals rely on to provide most all their food?

On this page:

• What are coral reefs?
• Where are coral reefs found?
• Why are coral reefs important?

What are Coral Reefs?

Coral reef ecosystems are intricate and diverse collections of species that interact with each other and the physical environs. Coral is a class of colonial animal that is related to hydroids, jellyfish, and bounding main anemones.

Stony corals, a blazon of coral characterized by their hard skeleton, are the bedrock of the reef. Stony coral colonies are composed of hundreds of thousands of individual living polyps. Polyps are capable of drawing dissolved calcium from seawater, and solidifying it into a difficult mineral (calcium carbonate) structure that serves equally their skeletal support. When y'all look at a coral colony, only the thin layer on its surface is live coral; the mass beneath is the calcium carbonate skeleton that may be decades old.

A group of the individual coral polyps that brand up a stony coral colony. Photo credit: Charles LoBue/EPA.

The wearisome growth of polyps and expansion of the hard skeletal structures build up the permanent coral reef structure over time.

Polyps of reef-building corals contain microscopic algae called zooxanthellae, which exist with the animal in a symbiotic relationship. The coral polyps (animals) provide the algae (plants) a habitation, and in substitution the algae provide the polyps with food they generate through photosynthesis. Because photosynthesis requires sunlight, about reef-building corals live in clear, shallow waters that are penetrated by sunlight. The algae likewise give a coral its color; coral polyps are actually transparent, so the colour of the algae inside the polyps bear witness through.

Coral reefs provide habitat for a big variety of marine life, including various sponges, oysters, clams, venereal, ocean stars, sea urchins, and many species of fish. Coral reefs are besides linked ecologically to nearby seagrass, mangrove, and mudflat communities. 1 of the reasons that coral reefs are so highly valued is because they serve every bit a eye of activity for marine life.

Not all corals on the reef are stony corals.

• Hydrocorals , or fire coral, are reef-building hydroids that have a difficult calcareous exoskeleton and stinging cells that can crusade a burning sensation when touched.
• Octocorals , or 'soft' corals, include sea fans and ocean whips, which grow more than like fleshy plants and do not form calcium carbonate skeletal structures.
• Antipatharians , or black corals, are another type of branching 'soft' coral.

Some soft corals have zooxanthellae to acquire food and energy, but others, such every bit black corals, be without this symbiotic relationship.

Where are Coral Reefs Found?

Corals tin can be constitute throughout the world's oceans, in both shallow and deep water. Notwithstanding, the reef-building corals that rely on a symbiotic relationship with algae need shallow, clear water assuasive light penetration for photosynthesis. Stony corals also require tropical or sub-tropical temperatures, which exist in a ring 30 degrees n to xxx degrees south of the equator.

Map of tropical coral reef ecosystems within the U.Due south. This map provides the full general geographic distribution of U.South. coral reef habitat (map courtesy of NOAA).

Coral reefs exist in seven U.S. states and territories, including:

• Florida,
• Puerto Rico,
• U.S. Virgin Islands,
• Hawaiʻi, and
• Guam, American Samoa, and the Republic of the Northern Mariana Islands.

There are also coral reefs 100 miles offshore of Texas and Louisiana in the Gulf of United mexican states, living on the tops of geologic 'mesas'.

Why are Coral Reefs Important?

Coral reefs are amidst the nearly biologically diverse and valuable ecosystems on Earth. An estimated 25 percent of all marine life, including over 4,000 species of fish, are dependent on coral reefs at some bespeak in their life cycle. Approximately half a billion people globally depend on coral reef ecosystems for food, coastal protection, and income from tourism and fisheries.

Healthy coral reefs provide:

• Habitat, feeding, spawning, and nursery grounds for over 1 million aquatic species, including commercially harvested fish species.
• Food for people living near coral reefs, specially on small islands.
• Recreation and tourism opportunities, such as angling, scuba diving, and snorkeling, which contribute billions of dollars to local economies.
• Protection of littoral infrastructure and prevention of loss of life from storms, tsunamis, floods, and erosion.
• Sources of new medicines that can be used to care for diseases and other wellness problems.

All of the services provided by coral reefs translate into tremendous economic worth. Past one judge, the total net benefit per year of the world's coral reefs is $29.viii billion. Tourism and recreation business relationship for $9.6 billion of this amount, coastal protection for $9.0 billion, fisheries for $five.7 billion, and biodiversity, representing the dependence of many different marine species on the reef structure, for $5.5 billion (Cesar, Burke and Pet-Soede, 2003).

In the U.S., the National Marine Fisheries Service estimates the annual commercial value of U.Due south. fisheries from coral reefs lonely to be over $100 million annually (2001). Reef-based recreational fisheries generate another $100 meg annually in the U.Due south.

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Source: https://www.epa.gov/coral-reefs/basic-information-about-coral-reefs