What is Staghorn Coral?

Staghorn Coral is a type of rocky coral found in the northern Atlantic Ocean. They commonly occur around the Caribbean Islands, Florida keys and Bahamas. The scientific name for Staghorn coral is acropora cervicornis .

also called Antler Coral, Staghorn Coral gets its common name from its superficial similarity to deer arms. As is typical of coral cameras, Staghorn Coral consists of small polyps that exclude a hard skeleton and live together in a colony. Staghorn Coral, the fastest growing coral in its native range, can have branches of up to 6.5 feet (2 m). Normally, individual branches will grow between 4-8 inches (10-20 cm) each year. Its age can be determined by counting growth rings on the skeleton, as in trees.

living in symbiosis with photosynthetic microscopic algae called zooxanthellae, this coral receives its nutrients Odzooxanthellae. Because eyelashes need sunlight for photosynthesis, staghorn coral is not found deeper than 98 feet (30 m) from the surface. Without symbiotic algae, coral cannot obtain sufficient nutrients.

Staghorn Coral is able to reproduce sexually and asexually. Its primary remedy of reproduction is asexual by fragmentation. Fragmentation occurs when branches break the colony and connect again. This is particularly advantageous for recovering from weather -based catastrophe, which disrupts a large number of branches. One of the disadvantages, however, is the lack of genetic diversity when the new coral is producedsexually produced.

Sexual reproduction occurs in Staghorn beads of gametes that emerge, moving into a water column where they grow to larvae. The larvae live with plankton as they grow and eventually settle in the colony. The friction happens only after you have been in August and September, and few larvae will survive to settle down.

Staghorn Coral is one of the most important corals in the Caribbean because it contributes significantly to STGuardous cliff and fish. However, it is an endangered species, while the population since the 1880s. In some places, the staghorn populations decreased by up to 98 percent.

Factors

that contribute to the decline of this coral include natural events such as hurricanes as well as human interference. However, the primary cause of the decline is the disease. Staghorn Coral is often affected by whitening, causing zooxanthellae loss.

In an effort to fight the decline in coral, scientists have made several renewal efforts. One approach is the hand reattach fragmented coral. However, this will not help with the problems of the disease, because the asexually reproduced coral will have the same increased probability of the disease as its parent coral. Another approach is to introduce cultivated larvae into the reef environment in an effort to ensure greater genetic diversity.