What is Coral?
True or False: Coral is a type of plant.
FALSE!
True or false: the two main categories of coral are hard coral and soft coral
TRUE
True or False: Does coral eat?
TRUE!
True or False: only deep coral reefs form habitats for other creatures to live.
FALSE. Both shallow and deep reefs provide habitats.
Is coral a marine vertebrate or invertebrate?
invertebrate
How does coral grow?
New polyps form over where the old ones were, and the coral slowly grows in size.
Polyps that catch and eat food using tiny harpoon-like organelles to shoot out and capture prey are called...
cnidocysts
Name a type of fish that lives in a coral reef.
clownfish, tang, gobies, frogfish, etc.
What is coral?
a colony of tiny animals
Describe soft coral.
Less stiff and dense than hard coral
Formed by complex proteins instead of calcium carbonate
Often sway with the ocean current
Look like plants or anemones
Colorful
The term for a partnership between two species that benefits both species.
Mutualism
Name a crustacean that lives in a coral reef.
lobster, shrimp, crab, etc.
What is a polyp?
Small individual organisms that make up all coral species
antler, brain, fan, sea pens, carnation coral, etc.
What gives coral its color?
a tiny type of plankton called zooxanthellae lives inside the coral polyps and conducts photosynthesis.
In what type of water are the most biodiverse reefs located?
Warm, shallow waters
In which zones are most coral reefs found?
In shallow waters, like the intertidal and neritic zones
What is the hard, protective covering of hard coral made of?
What is coral bleaching and what causes it?
When the color loses its color and turns white.
It is caused by extreme temperatures, pollution, extremely low tides, chemicals in sunscreen, not enough zooxanthellae.
Name a type of invertebrate that lives in a coral reef.
Sea sponge, anemone, octopus, squid, sea slug, sea urchin, marine worm.