How do herbivores control algal growth on coral reefs?

Feb 28, 2025 ... What is coral? Did you know that coral is an animal and not a plant? The majority of corals are sessile, attaching themselves to the ocean floor ... May 2, 2024 ... Coral bleaching happens when corals lose their vibrant colours in response to a stressful event and is a visual indication of a reef's declining health. Coral reefs are therefore created by millions of tiny polyps forming large carbonate structures, and are the basis of a framework and home for hundreds of ... Feb 5, 2025 ... Coral reefs provide habitat for a large variety of marine life, including various sponges, oysters, clams, crabs, sea stars, sea urchins, and ... Corals are extremely ancient animals that evolved into modern reef-building forms over the last 25 million years. What is coral bleaching? Bleaching is a sign corals are under stress. Hard corals are the builders of coral reefs. They are made up of colonies of tiny ... Hard corals are the building blocks of coral reefs, and the mainstay of the coral cap at Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. Dec 12, 2024 ... A coral is made up of individual animals called polyps. Each polyp has a stomach that opens at only one end. This opening, called the mouth, is surrounded by a ... Coral, plant or animal? For several centuries, the nature of this strange organism, resembling small flowering trees attached to rocks at the bottom of the sea, ... Aug 1, 2020 ... When coral bleaches (appears stark white) the animal has lost its algae and you are seeing through the polyp to the skeleton of the animal.