CoralReproduction

Coral Reproduction

Asexual Reproduction

Porites evermanni

<ref>http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=129838&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click<ref>

Notes

"Coral Reproduction." NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program:. N.p., n.d.

Lirman, Diego. "Fragmentation in the Branching Coral Acropora Palmata (Lamarck): Growth, Survivorship, and Reproduction of Colonies and Fragments." Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 251.1 (2000): 41-57. Web.

Miller, K. J., and D. J. Ayre. "The Role of Sexual and Asexual Reproduction in Structuring High Latitude Populations of the Reef Coral Pocillopora Damicornis." Nature.com. Nature Publishing Group, 21 Apr. 2004.

Veron, J.E.N. “Sexual Reproduction.” The Australian Institute of Marine Sciences. The Australian Institute of Marine Sciences, 2013. Web. 23 Feb 2015.

Also came across this interesting tidbit from http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=129838&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click

Jorge Cortes remembered that several years ago a scientist had reported finding that some corals are a target of biting triggerfish.

"That was the missing piece," Baums says. "We realized that triggerfish were eating the mussels inside the coral skeletons. To get at the mussels, the fish have to bite the coral.

"They then spit out the fragments, and those fragments land on the ocean floor and grow into new coral colonies.

"No one had realized how important fish might be in helping corals reproduce. Now there's evidence that triggerfish attacks on Porites evermanni result in asexual reproduction--the coral fragments cloning themselves."

Someone should track down this study and find out more of the details.