Porites
| Porites | ||||||||||||
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Porites sp. |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Porites | ||||||||||||
| Link , 1807 |
Porites is a genus ofhard corals that has a circumtropical distribution. They are found both in the coral reefs of the tropical Indo-Pacific and the Red Sea , in the Caribbean and on the coast of West Africa. This makes it one of the hard coral genera with the largest range.
features
They are animal colonies that consist of many very small individual polyps . The growth of the Porites colonies is very slow, often less than an inch a year. But since they get very old, they can get very big. Porites colonies usually form very massive, round, crust-like, columnar or helmet-shaped shapes. However, there are also branched species such as Porites cylindrica . When large colonies reach the surface of the water, the upper part of the colony dies and it continues to grow laterally. As a result of erosion, a pit called a microatoll develops in the center of the dead coral skeleton, which is surrounded by living tissue. Porites species are yellow, brown, or green in color. Occasionally, purple, blue or pink tones also appear. They are often colonized by the commensal Christmas tree worm ( Spirobranchus giganteus ).
All Porites species live in a symbiosis with unicellular, symbiotic algae ( zooxanthellae ), from which they obtain most of the nutrients they need. Porites colonies are hermaphrodites (hermaphrodites).
literature
- Erhardt / Moosleitner: Mergus Sea Water Atlas Volume 2 , Mergus-Verlag, Melle, 1997, ISBN 3-88244-112-7
- Erhardt / Baensch: Mergus Sea Water Atlas Volume 5 , Mergus-Verlag, Melle, 2000, ISBN 3-88244-115-1
- Julian Sprung: Korallen , Dähne Verlag, 2000, ISBN 3-921684-87-0
- SA Fosså, & AJ Nilsen: Coral reef aquarium. Volume 4, Birgit Schmettkamp Verlag, ISBN 3-928819-05-4
