A post of mine from an earlier thread.
A post of mine from an earlier thread.
Elegance coral larvae can not settle in sandy grass flats or muddy sediments. The first tide change, or storm that moved through would disturb the bottom, and cover the tiny larvae causing it to die. They need a solid and fixed structure to settle on, go through metamorphosis, and grow. This is typically the reef itself. As the newly settled coral grows, it takes on the appearance of an ice cream cone standing up on its tip. This is a very tiny point of attachment for a coral that's getting larger and larger. At some point, it will break free of the reef. There are many variables that determine where these corals will spend the rest of their lives. The size of the coral when it breaks free, and the speed and direction of the water have a great impact on this. If the coral is relatively small and a large powerful storm moves through, the coral may be washed great distances away and end up in rubble zones, or grass flats. If the coral is growing on the fore reef, it may simply drop to the deep silt beds below. The coral may simply tip over, or fall just a few feet, and spend the rest of its life on the reef itself. This is why we find elegance corals in many different habitats. From clean nutrient poor waters, to turbid muddy environments. Basically anywhere they can hang on and eek out an existence. Even siblings from the same parent coral, may be found in completely different habitats. The growth, and overall health of the coral is influenced by the environment it lives in. This creates corals that may look very different. So different that at one point it was suggested that there were actually two species of "elegance corals". Catalaphyllia jardeni, the larger, faster growing, coral with long tentacles, and Catalaphyllia picteti, the smaller, slower growing, coral with short stubby tentacles. We now know that there is only one species, and the differences are simply environmentally influenced. Due to the wide range of habitats this coral can live in, we can examine individuals from these different habitats and determine what environmental influences enable them to prosper, and what environmental influences cause them to struggle.
If we examine C. jardeni from turbid, nutrient rich environments, like grass flats, rubble zones, or deep silt beds, we typically find skeletons that resemble small flattened cone shapes. These corals typically grow somewhere around 1/4" per year, and have comparatively short tentacles. These are the corals that were once mistakenly refereed to as C. picteti. If we examine corals from more nutrient poor environments, like the reef itself, or near by, we find corals that grow much larger, have meandering skeletons, and long tentacles. These corals typically grow around 1 1/4" per year, or more. Easily four or five times the growth rate of their relatives in more nutrient rich environments.
