Hard Corals
ORDER SCLERACTINIA
SPECIES OF Hard Corals
CLICK ON A CATEGORY BELOW TO FIND OUT MORE!
ANATOMY OF Hard Corals
OVERVIEW
Hard corals are hard to the touch because they produce a rigid, stony skeleton made of calcium carbonate. Hard corals belong to the order Scleractinia. “Sclero” means “hard” in Greek!
REEF BUILDERS OF THE OCEAN!
Some hard corals, but not all, can build coral reefs! A coral reef is basically a growing collection of hard coral skeletons, which are made of calcium carbonate. Each hard coral is a colony of countless tiny animals known as coral polyps. As each coral polyp secretes calcium carbonate to protect itself from predators and other dangers, the coral reef grows and grows!
CORALS FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE!
Hard corals come in all shapes and sizes. While some hard corals may look like lifeless rocks, other corals look more like branching trees, flat plates, or even human brains!
CORAL BLEACHING – A SIGNIFICANT THREAT TO MARINE LIFE.
Under normal conditions, hard corals can be very colourful due to the zooxanthellae (single-celled algae) living in their tissues. These zooxanthellae can photosynthesise just like plants, producing food which they share with their hard coral home! Sadly, due to climate change, hard corals can become so stressed that they can expel their zooxanthellae helpers from their homes. This bleaches the hard corals, turning them completely white. If the hard corals do not recover in time, they will die, turning the coral reef from a thriving ecosystem to a barren wasteland.