is coral growth affected by seasonal changes?

[buzzy]

Does anyone have any idea if coral growth is affected by seasonal change?

I was thinkning about plant growth then started thinking about corals and if they have more growth during certain season or not? Im thinking the environment that they are in would'nt have that much of a change so it proberly would'nt have much affect on them? any thoughts?

 

[mike_cmu04]

Not if you keep your lighting the same. I guess if you dont have a chiller and you have alot of temp changes in the summer you would get better growth in the winter.

 

[greenbean36191]

In the wild, on some reefs there are seasonal changes in growth rate. As a result you can count annual growth rings on corals just like tree rings. Not all corals and not all reefs see this sort of change though. Some reefs don't see enough change from season to season to affect growth rate.

In captivity, you would likely see little change from season to season unless you vary the temperature several degrees throughout the year. You would get faster growth from most corals during the summer and slower growth in the winter, though the growth rate of some corals is not temperature sensitive.

 

[travis32]

I saw a show recently on the origin of the cosmos, that discussed how essential coral growth rings are to determining the history of th earth and oceans. They compared the fossilized coral rings to tree rings and that the changes in oceans could be documented by corals. By documenting the rings in corals one could extrapolate some of the history of the earth and age of parts of the earth. That combined with carbon dating, soil samples/ erosion, etc. And one could potentially document changes throughout earth's history.

Doesn't really answer your question, but, it sounds like coral rings can help determine oceanic seasons and the like. So, I guess, in some ways, in the natural ocean, I would think they'd have different growth seasons.. Maybe changes in lunar gravity, tides, weather patterns, etc. In a home aquarium though, those things would be less. So, coral growth would most likely be determine by simpler things such as water chemistry, lighting, and water quality.

 

[N-dog]

I would imagine it would in the ocean. I would say the closer to the equator the reef is the less it would very.

 

[gods child]

No not in your tank most growth is do to the amount of light .

 

[elegance coral]

Not only is coral growth effected by seasonal changes, but you can read some coral skeletons, like a window into their past. In the pic below, you can see where it started out as a tiny polyp, at the point on the bottom. From there it grew about a half inch, then something really bad happened, and growth was drastically reduced. This is right where the skeleton gets skinny again near the bottom. Then things improved drastically and the corals growth was almost horizontal. Then things became somewhat "normal", for the environment, and you see the horizontal bands in the skeleton, caused by seasonal changes.

 

[buzzy]

wow thats really interesting, thanks for the pic