Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Fish and Wildlife Research Institute

L CORALS
iving animals whose skeletons
form the framework of Floridas
multicolored underwater reefs,
corals are a diverse and ecologically
important member of the aquatic Architects
ecosystem. Florida boasts the only
shallow-water tropical coral reef ecosystem in the
continental United States, but these ancient,
slow-growing structures are now imperiled by
heavy tourism, over-fishing, global climate
change, coastal development, and pollution. All of
these factors combine to degrade these monuments
of the sea that, for many people, are the very
embodiment of Floridas underwater appeal.
What Are Corals?
Incorrectly classified as plants until the mid-19th
century, corals are animals that gather their food
instead of producing it themselves as most plants
do. But within their tissues corals do house a
group of microscopic plants called zooxanthellae,
which use sunlight for photosynthesis. Coral
provide these colorful algae with shelter, nutrients,
and carbon dioxide, which is necessary for
photosynthesis. In turn, the algal
tenants provide many benefits to
the coral, including nutrition and
of the Reef waste removal. Scientists are still
investigating the nature of this
symbiotic (mutually beneficial)
relationshipwhich occurs in many forms by
various inhabitants of the reef system.
Most corals are colonial and composed of
tiny individuals called polyps which are closely
related to jellyfish. They begin life in tropical
waters as free-floating larvae but eventually
settle on the sea floor as sedentary animals. A
single polyp may be as large as a compact disc
or smaller than the head of a pin. Billions of
these polyps work together, generation after
generation, to create one of natures most
spectacular and enduring wonders: a coral reef.
A coral polyp consists of translucent tentacles
and a mouth. It can feed by waving its tentacles
through the surrounding water to capture tiny
wandering animals called zooplankton, which
the polyp stuns with stinging cells called
nematocysts, located on its tentacles. When a
polyp is feeding or defending its territory, it

Heres How You Can Help Keep Our Reefs Healthy!

Remember that all Florida coral is protected and may not be collected, harvested or sold.
Do not touch, grasp, stand on, sit on, or drag equipment over living coral.
Try to retrieve fishing gear and equipment, especially monofilament line.
Avoid running aground on the reef. Brown, brown, run aground; blue, blue, sail on through.
Anchor boats in sandy areas away from the reef. Use mooring buoys if available.
Do not dump trash on or near the reefor anywhere else at sea or land.
Reduce, reuse, and recycle! The less you use, the less emissions (greenhouse gases) you make.
stretches itself out of its cup and spreads its
tentacles like the branches of a tree. At rest, it
pulls its tentacles back into the cup and closes its
mouth tightly like a drawstring pouch. Most
species of coral rest during the day with their
tentacles retracted while the algae produce
energy and become active at night, unfolding
their gaily colored tentacles to gather food.
Corals can reproduce by spawning, releasing
sperm and eggs into the water which come
together to form larvae, or by brooding, growing
fertilized eggs into larvae inside their body cavity
and then releasing them into the water.
Reproduction usually occurs at night and only at
certain times of the year. Larvae can drift from
several days to several weeks before settling
onto a hard surface, where they form into a
polyp and immediately begin to construct
skeletons to anchor themselves to the rock. A
polyp will remain in one place its entire life,
growing new polyps by cloning itself, a process
called budding.
Throughout their lives, coral polyps extract
calcium and bicarbonate ions from seawater to
construct calcium carbonate skeletons. Since
coral polyps must be in contact with water in
order to collect food, only the outside layer of
any coral formation is alive. Corals grow very
slowly: estimates of growth range from 1-16 feet
every 1,000 years.
How Coral Reefs Form
Coral skeletons form the gradually evolving
framework of the huge and colorful coral reefs.
New corals settle and grow on hard substrate,
often the skeletal remains of formerly living
corals. Over centuries, many coral colonies
together form large calcium carbonate structures
that may extend to just below the oceans surface.
This continual work-in-progress forms the
exquisite floral patterns and jagged pillars and
spires of a coral reef. In addition to the algae
that live within the coral polyps, other types,
usually red, green, brown or blue-green algae,
grow on the reef itself. Some of these algae also
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produce calcium carbonate that cements diverse
reef material, and they give the reef its vivid
rainbow hues.
Coral reefs have been in existence for 200
million years. In prehistoric times, when the
climate of North America was warmer, coral reefs
were found over a much broader area. During
glacial periods, reefs retreated. Although some
scattered coral communities are found off western
Florida and the coasts of Texas and Louisiana,
the only living shallow water tropical coral reef
ecosystem in the continental United States is
located in the Florida Keys. Here, some 6,000
individual reefs are draped like a jeweled necklace
along the coast for 130 miles from Key Biscayne
to the Dry Tortugas. Southern Florida is
documented to have the largest amount of coral
habitat under U.S. jurisdiction.
Floridas reefs began to form 5,000 to 9,000 years
ago, when sea levels rose following the last Ice Age.
All coral reefs are in a constant state of flux.
New colonies grow on the outer surface of coral
reefs, causing the reefs to expand. Hurricanes
grind the coral rock into sand, causing the reefs
to shrink. Reefs are also excavated by bio-
eroding animals such as sponges, snails, worms,
and other sea creatures. If conditions are favorable
for long periods, the reefs may reach awe-
inspiring heights.
Types of Reefs and Corals
Worldwide, there are many types of coral reefs,
including fringing, barrier, atolls, and deep sea
banks. Florida has bank reefs, which are found
up to three miles offshore in deeper waters and
rise steeply from the ocean floor, and patch reefs,
which grow close to shore in shallow water.
Atolls, ringlike coral islands encircling a shallow
lagoon, are found primarily in the South Pacific.
Corals can generally be divided into two main
categories: stony corals and octocorals. Numerous
species of coral, including nearly fifty species of
stony corals, are found in Florida reefs. Each
species forms colonies that that have a unique
shape, making them distinguishable from other
colonies. Different colonies of the same species
can take on the various hues of the algae that live
within themusually red, green, and brown.
Skeletons of dead stony corals, the skeletal
deposits of sponges, and algae are the building
material of coral reefs. The most spectacular
reef-building corals in Florida are brain, star,
elkhorn, and staghorn corals. Brain coral is
dome-shaped and has waves, folds, and ridges
that resemble those of a human brain. Star coral
is also dome-shaped, but it has a distinctive star
pattern on its surface that is caused by the
accordion-like folds within its polyp cups. Elkhorn
and staghorn corals are so named because their
branchlike projections resemble the antlers of
those animals.
Octocorals, some of which are also called
gorgonians, look like strange trees and shrubs,
although they too are composed of living polyps.
The name gorgonian aptly refers to the mythical
Gorgons, sinister women with writhing snakes
for hair. Unlike stony corals, octocorals are do
not build thick calcium carbonate skeletons.
Instead, many octocorals are supported by an
internal structure composed of a substance
called gorgonin. Octocorals frequently grow on
or near the reef like a fantastical garden.
The most conspicuous octocorals in Florida
are sea fans and sea rods. Sea fans are pale
lavender or green fan-shaped corals. Their fans
flutter in the ocean currents like lace curtains.
Sea whips have long, feathery branches that
spread in all directions. They can be orange, lilac,
purple, yellow, brown, or buff.
Reef Residents
Coral reefs are a study in deception, supporting
many animals that look like plants. The most
obvious example of such confusion is the sponge.
Although it looks like a plant, it is an animal,
albeit a simple one consisting of no more than a
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cluster of cells. It funnels seawater through a
network of canals and pores to collect food,
minerals, and oxygen.
From silvery, streamlined barracuda to spine-
covered sea urchins, coral reefs attract a
remarkable variety of marine creatures, many of
which are just as brightly colored as the corals
themselves. The reason for this color display is
unknown, although scientists suggest that the
residents of the reefwith so many ledges and
openings to hide withinmay not need to
camouflage themselves in drab attire as many
creatures of the open ocean do. But like all
animals, reef inhabitants have evolved a number
of adaptations to improve their survival chances.
The spiny lobster and the four-eyed butterfly
fish, for instance, sport spots on their tails that
look like eyes to direct a predators attention
away from their vulnerable heads and bodies.
Clown fish have a special coating of slime on
their bodies that allows them to hide without
injury among the poisonous tentacles of the sea
anemone. And the parrotfish, which helps to
make beaches by pulverizing coral into sand,
creates its own sleeping bag of mucus that seals
its scent from predators.
Coral reefs occupy a small portion of
the ocean floor, but they provide important
habitat to millions of marine species.
Although coral reefs are beautiful by day,
they take on an even more dazzling appearance
at night, as more of the coral polyps unfold and
many reef residents come out of their daytime
shelters to feed.
Why Coral Reefs Are Important
Coral reefs are among the most biologically
diverse ecosystems on earth. Coral reefs occupy
less than 1 percent of the worlds oceans, but it
is estimated that about 25 percent of marine fish
species inhabit coral reefs during some part of
their lives. Reefs are second only to tropical rain
forests in the number of species they harbor and,
indeed, are sometimes called the rainforests of
the sea. Like their terrestrial counterparts, coral
communities contain valuable materials and
medicines that are useful to people.
In Florida, coral reefs are home to many of
the states most important fisheries resources,
including spiny lobsters and groupers. Reefs also
buffer coastal land from the damaging effects of
storms and erosion and help to form the sandy
beaches and quiet lagoons that are signatures of
the states tourism industry.
Threats to Coral Reefs
Two centuries ago, enterprising residents of the
Florida Keys waved lanterns from the shore to
lure unsuspecting ships onto reefs so the residents
could salvage the cargoes for themselves.
Although that activity has long since been halted,
Floridas coral reefs today are continuously
threatened by the activities of an increasing
human population. Boaters frequently run
aground or drop anchor on the coral heads,
divers and snorkelers accidentally step on and
damage them, and pollution decreases the
optimal water quality that is vital to their survival.
The reefs of the Florida Keys are one of the
most popular diving destinations in the world.
Today, the number of visitors to the coral
reefs in Florida continues to swell, along with the
sedimentation, sewage and stormwater discharges
associated with coastal development. These
discharges can smother coral colonies and allow
other organisms, such as sponges, tunicates, and
algae to overgrow parts of the coral reef habitat.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Fish and Wildlife Research Institute
100 8th Avenue SE, St. Petersburg, FL 33701 (727) 896-8626 MyFWC.com/Research
Global climate change has also been identified
as a major threat to coral reefs. In general, reef
corals require clear water, bright light, oceanic
salinities, and water temperatures between 65
degrees and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. As tropical
sea temperatures increase, corals become stressed
and can expel their zooxanthellae in a process
called bleaching. When this occurs corals lose
their color and appear white as their calcium
carbonate skeleton shows through their
transparent tissue. While long periods of elevated
water temperatures have been identified as a
major cause of bleaching, this phenomenon can
occur when a coral becomes stressed for various
reasons. Most species of corals can recover from
bleaching, but if the stressors last for too long the
whole colony can eventually die. Recently it has
also been shown that greenhouse gases known to
cause global warming are also changing chemical
properties of the oceans through a process referred
to as ocean acidification. Ocean acidification can
slow coral growth and coral reef accretion.
An initial attempt to protect the reefs came in
1960, with the creation of John Pennekamp State
Park off Key Largo. That was followed by the
designation of the Key Largo National Marine
Sanctuary and, later, Looe Key National Marine
Sanctuary. Both of these were incorporated into
the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
(FKNMS) which was established in 1990 and
protects 2,900 square nautical miles of waters
surrounding the Florida Keys. In 1997, the FKNMS
implemented a comprehensive management plan
that created five types of zones, each with varying
levels of protection. Together, the marine zones
are designed to protect and preserve sensitive
parts of the ecosystem while allowing activities
that are compatible with resource protection. The
management plan offers hope that the states
shimmering underwater mansions will continue
to grow and flourish.
May 2016