Coral Reefs: Introduction, Life forms, Corallite Morphology

ang di magtuon, makaigit

Corallite

Skeleton of an individual polyp

Corallite wall

Vertical plates of the corallite radiating from the center

Costae

Radial skeletal elements projecting OUTSIDE the wall

Septa

Radial skeletal elements projecting INWARDS  from the corallite wall

Septo-costae

Radial skeletal elements CROSSING the corallite wall

Columella

Skeletal structures at the CENTER  of the corallites

Paliform lobes

Vertical skeletal structure at the INNER END of the septa that SURROUNDS the columella

Coenosteum

Thin horizontal spaces between corallites

plocoid

what corallite morphology

plocoid

what corallite morphology

plocoid

what corallite morphology

• Two walls between corallites 

• Have Coenosteum (space between corallites)

cerioid

shared walls

meandroid

Forms ridges & valleys

meandroid

what corallite morphology

phaceloid

what corallite morphology

phaceloid

• Separate corallites 

• High rise Plocoid

• Looks like a tube

Flabello-Meandroid

• High rise meandroid 

• Tube-like that forms ridges and valleys

Flabello-Meandroid

what corallite morphology

mushroom

• Can be attached or free-living 

• Fungiids

mushroom

what life form

tabulate

• Plate like

• Form tiers

tabulate

what life form

tabulate

what life form

Branching

• Has branches 

• Tree like branches

Branching

what life form

Branching

what life form

Encrusting

• Take the shape of the substrate 

• thin

Encrusting

what life form

Encrusting

what life form

columnar

• Columns 

• Knob-like 

• hard coral colonies that grow upward into thick, pillar-, finger-, or column-like 

columnar

what life form

columnar

what life form

Foliose

• Laminar

• Leaf-like

• Blade-like

• Tiers

Foliose

what life form

Foliose

what life form

Massive/ Submassive

• Dome-shaped

• Boulder-like 

• Hemispherical 

• Irregular

Massive/ Submassive

what life form

Massive/ Submassive

what life form

Massive/ Submassive

what life form

Anthozoa

what class: Corals; relatives of hydroids, jellyfish, sea anemones

hexacoralia

what subclass: Hard corals; unbranched tentacles

octocorallia

what subclass: Soft corals; branched/pinnate tentacles; side branches; feather-like; 8 septa

octocorallia

Gorgonian (Order Gorgonacea)/horny corals; whip corals; sea feathers; sea fans; red coral; organ-pipe coral

scleractinia

what order: Hermatypic / hard corals; CaCO₃ skeleton

alcyonacea

what order:Soft corals

meandroid

what life form

flabello-meandroid

what life form

ceroid

what life form

phaceloid

what life form

plocoid

what life form