BSC1005 exam 2 coral reefs FSU |Questions and Answers
Coral Reefs require: - -Warm water
Sunlight
Normal salinity
Moderate water movement
-Corals are: - -Animals, plants, and rocks
-Rock corals - -Coral skeletons are calcium carbonate, living tissue is just a thin layer of the
surface
-Animal corals - -Are related to sea anemones and jellyfish. They consume plankton,
caught with tentacles that are armed with stinging cells called nematocysts.
-Plant corals - -Most coral food comes from zooxanthealle, The coral requires the zoox for
food and help depositing its skeleton.
-How do corals reproduce? - -Sexually; fertilized coral eggs develop into planula larvae
-Kingdom Protista - -Complex single-celled creatures. "Zoox" are protest and most
important one.
-Kingdom Plantae - -Plants make food using energy from sunlight.
2 types of plants on and near coral:
Algae- soaks up water/nutrients through their surfaces.
Flowering plants- acquire nutrients through their roots.
-Kingdom Animalia - -The most important phylums
-Porifera - sponges (Phylum) - -Simple and homogeneous in structure; feed by filtering
food from water - especially removing bacteria efficiently, as they pump water through
canals running throughout their bodies
-Cnidaria (Phylum) - -Radial symmetry, have a sac-like gut, entered through a mouth
ringed by tentacles that are armed with stinging cells called nematocysts -tiny exploding
harpoons that capture prey or deter enemies
-Annelida (Phylum) - -Segmented worms - with bilateral symmetry. The first few
segments are modified into a wide range of feeding apparatus - for sucking up sediment,
ripping pieces out of prey or plants, or filtering food from the water
-Mollusca (Phylum) - -Clams, snails, squids - bilateral symmetry, they have a muscular
foot, which makes most of them favorites as foods for humans - except the sea slugs which
are shell- less snails, protected by toxins and often brightly colored
, -Arthropoda (Phylum) - -bilateral symmetry, differ from the others by having jointed
appendages - legs and antennae, and exoskeletons which they have to shed in order to
allow growth
-Echinodermata (Phylum) - -Unique 5-way and also radial symmetry. even in sea
cucumbers, though that have to be sliced crossways to see it; all move and grasp food with
hundreds of tiny tube feet with a suction disk at the tip of each, and have calcareous bits
embedded in their skin - it is mysterious how they coordinate all their feet, as they have no
brain
-Chordata (Phylum) - -range from mammals like dugongs to sea squirts - simple sacs
pumping water, just like sponges when they are adults, but as larvae they look like tadpoles
and have all the chordate characteristics: notochord, tail, dorsal hollow nerve chord,
pharyngeal slits
-How animals acquire their food on coral reefs: - -Predators that swim or drift
Bottom-dwelling predators
Herbivores
-Predators that swim or drift - -Fish, mollusks,squid, and cnidarians - jellyfish.
Streamlined with large eyes, fast, directed movement, but others like jellyfish simply drift
with the currents
-Bottom-dwelling predators - -Often lie in wait, cryptic on the seafloor - starfish, snails,
crabs, fish (representatives of 4 different phyla)
-Herbivores - -Feed very differently, poking along in schools, taking bites here and there;
although they sometimes have strong mouth for chomping calcified plant parts, they tend
not to have streamlined bodies and row of sharp teeth - there are no vegetarian sharks
-Defenses against predators - -hard shells, teeth, camouflage, toxins, also behaviors like
schooling in fish, or squids squirting ink at predator to confuse it, puffer fish puffing up,
flying fish leaping out of the water
-Defenses against herbivores - -Hard parts, fast growing, hiding in crevices
-Filter-feeding - -Filter tiny plankton and other food particles from water (sponges, clams,
manta rays)
-Deposit feeders - -Unusual by terrestrial standards, they continuously swallow mud and
digest off the organic material - annelid worm, echinoderms, sea urchin, sea cucumbers
-Symbiotic microbes - -most common form is single-celled plants living inside tissues of an
animal and producing food for their host using sunlight for energy - giant clam, coral, sea
slug
Coral Reefs require: - -Warm water
Sunlight
Normal salinity
Moderate water movement
-Corals are: - -Animals, plants, and rocks
-Rock corals - -Coral skeletons are calcium carbonate, living tissue is just a thin layer of the
surface
-Animal corals - -Are related to sea anemones and jellyfish. They consume plankton,
caught with tentacles that are armed with stinging cells called nematocysts.
-Plant corals - -Most coral food comes from zooxanthealle, The coral requires the zoox for
food and help depositing its skeleton.
-How do corals reproduce? - -Sexually; fertilized coral eggs develop into planula larvae
-Kingdom Protista - -Complex single-celled creatures. "Zoox" are protest and most
important one.
-Kingdom Plantae - -Plants make food using energy from sunlight.
2 types of plants on and near coral:
Algae- soaks up water/nutrients through their surfaces.
Flowering plants- acquire nutrients through their roots.
-Kingdom Animalia - -The most important phylums
-Porifera - sponges (Phylum) - -Simple and homogeneous in structure; feed by filtering
food from water - especially removing bacteria efficiently, as they pump water through
canals running throughout their bodies
-Cnidaria (Phylum) - -Radial symmetry, have a sac-like gut, entered through a mouth
ringed by tentacles that are armed with stinging cells called nematocysts -tiny exploding
harpoons that capture prey or deter enemies
-Annelida (Phylum) - -Segmented worms - with bilateral symmetry. The first few
segments are modified into a wide range of feeding apparatus - for sucking up sediment,
ripping pieces out of prey or plants, or filtering food from the water
-Mollusca (Phylum) - -Clams, snails, squids - bilateral symmetry, they have a muscular
foot, which makes most of them favorites as foods for humans - except the sea slugs which
are shell- less snails, protected by toxins and often brightly colored
, -Arthropoda (Phylum) - -bilateral symmetry, differ from the others by having jointed
appendages - legs and antennae, and exoskeletons which they have to shed in order to
allow growth
-Echinodermata (Phylum) - -Unique 5-way and also radial symmetry. even in sea
cucumbers, though that have to be sliced crossways to see it; all move and grasp food with
hundreds of tiny tube feet with a suction disk at the tip of each, and have calcareous bits
embedded in their skin - it is mysterious how they coordinate all their feet, as they have no
brain
-Chordata (Phylum) - -range from mammals like dugongs to sea squirts - simple sacs
pumping water, just like sponges when they are adults, but as larvae they look like tadpoles
and have all the chordate characteristics: notochord, tail, dorsal hollow nerve chord,
pharyngeal slits
-How animals acquire their food on coral reefs: - -Predators that swim or drift
Bottom-dwelling predators
Herbivores
-Predators that swim or drift - -Fish, mollusks,squid, and cnidarians - jellyfish.
Streamlined with large eyes, fast, directed movement, but others like jellyfish simply drift
with the currents
-Bottom-dwelling predators - -Often lie in wait, cryptic on the seafloor - starfish, snails,
crabs, fish (representatives of 4 different phyla)
-Herbivores - -Feed very differently, poking along in schools, taking bites here and there;
although they sometimes have strong mouth for chomping calcified plant parts, they tend
not to have streamlined bodies and row of sharp teeth - there are no vegetarian sharks
-Defenses against predators - -hard shells, teeth, camouflage, toxins, also behaviors like
schooling in fish, or squids squirting ink at predator to confuse it, puffer fish puffing up,
flying fish leaping out of the water
-Defenses against herbivores - -Hard parts, fast growing, hiding in crevices
-Filter-feeding - -Filter tiny plankton and other food particles from water (sponges, clams,
manta rays)
-Deposit feeders - -Unusual by terrestrial standards, they continuously swallow mud and
digest off the organic material - annelid worm, echinoderms, sea urchin, sea cucumbers
-Symbiotic microbes - -most common form is single-celled plants living inside tissues of an
animal and producing food for their host using sunlight for energy - giant clam, coral, sea
slug
