Latest Reef Stories
A team of researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology is using the Aquarius underwater laboratory off the coast of Florida to study how the diversity of seaweed-eating fish affects endangered coral reefs. The research mission, which began Sept. 13, may provide new information to help scientists protect and even restore damaged coral reefs in the Caribbean. Led by Mark Hay, a Georgia Tech professor of biology, the 10-day mission includes two Ph.D. students and a postdoctoral...
New evidence of sea-level oscillations during a warm period that started about 125,000 years ago raises the possibility of a similar scenario if the planet continues its more recent warming trend, says a research team led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). In a paper published online in the Sept. 11 Nature Geoscience, the researchers report data from an improved method of dating fossil coral reef skeletons in the Bahamas. By calculating more accurate ages for the...
SAN DIEGO, Sept. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Rising San Diego singer/songwriter/actress Suzy Skarulis will perform at the surf industry's prestigious Liquid Nation Ball 8 in La Jolla September 17th. Suzy's head-turning blend of pop, rock, and blues music has made the 22-year-old a favorite amongst emerging Southern California artists. The star-studded charity event sponsored by the Surfing Industry Manufacturers Association (SIMA) is hosted by International Surfing Association (ISA) President...
Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been rising due to the burning of fossil fuels. Increased absorption of this carbon by the oceans is lowering the seawater pH (the scale which measures how acidic or basic a substance is) and aragonite saturation state in a process known as ocean acidification. Aragonite is the mineral form of calcium carbonate that is laid down by corals to build their hard skeleton. Researchers...
The record-breaking cold weather experienced in Florida last year resulted in large losses among coral reef species, researchers from the University of Miami have discovered. Reporting in this month's edition of the journal PLoS One, scientists at the school's Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science discovered a "catastrophic loss of corals within the Florida Reef Tract, which spans 160 miles (260 kilometers) from Miami to the Dry Tortugas and is the only living barrier...
TAU researcher discovers that endangered soft corals are also building blocks of coral reefs Scientists have long believed soft corals, one of the many endangered elements of marine life, are only minor contributors to the structure of coral reefs. But that's not true, says new research from Tel Aviv University "” and the preservation of soft corals is essential to the health of our seas. Joint research by Tel Aviv University and the Academia Sinica, the National Museum of Natural...
Wildlife Conservation Society leads global assessment showing where climate stresses on reef systems will be and places to focus management Marine researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society and other groups have created a map of the world's corals and their exposure to stress factors, including high temperatures, ultra-violet radiation, weather systems, sedimentation, as well as stress-reducing factors such as temperature variability and tidal dynamics.The study, say the authors, will...
Last month, NOAA scientists used acoustic sonar to map several areas of the outer continental shelf edge off the coast of Florida. The team, on the latest mission of the research expedition "Extreme Corals 2011," found and explored new coral mounds north of the Oculina Bank. With the help of a remotely operated vehicle"”basically, an underwater robot"”the team determined that the nearly 100 deep-sea coral mounds are Oculina varicosa. This is a branching stony coral species that builds...
Climate change and acidifying ocean water are likely to have a highly variable impact on the world's coral reefs, in space, time and diversity, international coral scientists cautioned recently.The picture that is emerging from studies of past coral extinctions and present impacts on today's reef systems is complex and subtle and will demand much more sophisticated management to preserve reefs intact, the team of scientists said in a paper in the international journal Science."New research...
Australian scientists today announced they have sequenced the genome of the staghorn coral Acropora millepora, a major component of the Great Barrier Reef and coral reefs worldwide.This is the first animal genome project to be carried out entirely in Australia, and is an important milestone in Australian biotechnology and in the study of coral reefs, said the researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and the Australian Genome Research Facility (AGRF)."This is a...
Latest Reef Reference Libraries
Coral reefs are submerged structures consisting of calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of small animals found in marine waters that enclose few nutrients. The majority of coral reefs are constructed from stony corals, which then consist of polyps that come together in groups. The polyps are like small sea anemones, to which they are very closely related. Unlike the sea anemones, coral polyps secrete hard carbonate exoskeletons which provide support and protections...
Chalice Corals, are a family of stony corals in the Pectiniidae family. Members of this family are mostly colonial but at least one species, Echinomorpha nishihirai, is solitary. These corals are endemic to the Indian and Pacific oceans. Pectiniids have a number of different forms but are basically streamlined and smooth. Polyps are large and brightly colored and resemble those of members of the Mussidae family of corals. The polyps are only extended at night. Tentacles are translucent,...
Siderastreidae is a family of colonial, reef building stony corals. Members of this family include symbiotic algae in their tissues which help provide their energy requirements. The World Register of Marine Species lists 7 genera within this family: Anomastraea, Coscinaraea, Craterastrea, Horastrea, Psammocora, Pseudosiderastrea, and Siderastrea. Corals in this family vary in form and include massive, thickly encrusting, columnar, and irregular forms. Corallites are linked by flowing...
Horn corals, known as Rugosa or Tetracoralla, are an extinct order of coral that were abundant during the Middle Ordovician to Late Permian stages. They were known as horn corals because of a unique horn-shaped chamber with a wrinkled (rugose) wall. These mostly solitary corals often reached lengths of nearly 40 inches. However, some species could form large colonies. Rugose corals have a skeleton made up of calcite that is often fossilized. Like modern corals, rugose corals were...
Tabulata is a family of extinct tabulate corals. These corals lived entirely during the Paleozoic era, being found from the Ordovician to the Permian stages. There are about 300 known genera of tabulate corals, of which Aulopora, Favosites, Halysites, Heliolites, Pleurodictyum, Sarcinula and Syringopora are the most common in the fossil record. These corals were mostly found in the shallow waters of the Silurian and Devonian, after which, they became much less common. They became extinct...
