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| | | How Do Stony Corals Grow? |
Maintained by NOAA
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| | How Do Stony Corals Grow? | | | | Most stony corals have very small polyps, averaging 1 to 3 millimeters in diameter, but entire colonies can grow very large and weigh several tons. As they grow, these reefs provide structural habitats for hundreds to thousands of different vertebrate and invertebrate species. The skeletons of stony corals are secreted by the lower portion of the polyp. This process produces a cup, or calyx, in which the polyp sits. The walls surrounding the cup are called the theca, and the floor is called the basal plate. Periodically, a polyp will lift off its base and secrete a new basal plate above the old one, creating a small chamber in the skeleton. While the colony is alive, CaCO3 is deposited, adding partitions and elevating the coral. Coral species number in the thousands, and stony corals take on several characteristic forms. Reefs form when polyps secrete skeletons of calcium carbonate | | | | |
 | | | | | Good Science and Coral Reefs
by World Bank, Dev News. News Release No:119 ESSD 14 October 2004 |  |
| | The Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the World Bank announced a 5-year initiative to help protect coral reefs in critical areas of developing countries. Coral reefs are the largest - and some of the most beautiful - living structures on earth, and play a key role in the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of coastal dwelling poor people – yet they are in decline in most parts of the world. | |
Read more at http://web.worldbank.org ... 7,00.html.
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