OtherBuilders

Other Reef Builders like Hydrozoans, Sponges, and Algae

Hydrozoans

Sponges

Coralline Algae

Outline For Expansions

1. I. Hydrozoans
2. A. Habitat
3. Hydrozoans are found in all oceans, at all latitudes. Though most are found in salt water, some species inhabit fresh and brackish water on all continents except Antarctica.
4. Hydrozoans are found in nearly all marine habitats, except for surf zones. Many species reside in warm, shallow, salty water, probably because of the availability of food in these habitats.
5. B. Physical Traits
6. Hydrozoan polyps are often symmetric, and can have a variety of shapes, including urn-shaped, conical, cylindrical, or club-shaped.
7. Polyps can range from a few millimeters tall, to 2 meters tall, like Branchiocerianthus imperator
8. At the base of many hydrozoan, there are hollow tubes, called stolons, which connect polyps in the same colony to each other, and allow for the transfer of food between polyps.
9. Above the base is a ring of contractile cells called the sphincter, which can open and close as needed to isolate the polyp from the stolon, to prevent undigested food from entering the stolon.
10. Many colonial hydrozoans are polymorphic, and have different structures for different functions. Some have large spiny tentacles for defense, some have tentacles and mouths for feeding, and #some have no mouth but reproduce in the form of producing medusae.
11. As cnidarians, hydrozoans have cnidocytes. Cnidocytes, when prompted by a stimulus, shoot out of tiny hollow tubes in hydrozoans at high speed. Depending on the species of hydrozoan, these can be used to catch prey, fight off predators, or attach to a substrate.
12. C. Colonial Development
13. A founding polyp attaches to a substrate, and reproduces by budding to produce more polyps, to create a network of stolon, formed of living tissue, called the coenosarc.
14. Some species form a single layer of polyps on top of substrate, while others will form stems of polyps coming off of the substrate.
15. In the same way that colonial hydrozoans are polymorphic, so are the polyps that make them up.
16. D. Reproduction
17. Hydrozoans, in terms of reproduction, are mostly broadcast spawners, meaning they shed gametes. In the case of hydrozoans, they mostly shed sperm and retain eggs, and release sperm attracting compounds.
18. It is not uncommon however for both eggs and sperm to be released by the hydrozoan into the water column, and for fertilization to occur externally.
19. Polyps reproduce by budding, either creating daughter polyps, medusae, or both. In some species medusae will reproduce by fission or budding.
20. E. Feeding Habits
21. Feeding habits of hydrozoan vary greatly, with some trapping plankton with tentacles, some filter out food from the water column, and some using symbiotic algae.
22. F. Sources
23. http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Hydrozoa/
24. http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/cnidaria/hydrozoalh.html
25. http://www.seawater.no/fauna/cnidaria/Hydrozoa.html

1. II. Coralline Algae
2. A. Description
3. usually pink or red, can be other colors as well (gray, green, blue, yellow, purple)
4. various forms
5. branching (geniculate or articulated)
6. encrusting (non-geniculate or non-articulated)
7. classification
8. Kingdom: Protista
9. Division: Rhodophyta (red algae)
10. Class: Rhodophyceae
11. Subclass: Florideae
12. Order: Corallinales
13. Family: Coralinaceae (Coralline algae)
14. B. Habitat/Location
15. inhabit intertidal and subtidal coastal areas
16. live on bedrock or other substrate
17. also on other algae, on shells, in seagrass
18. geniculate algae can be unattached
19. live in range of light (depth of 0-270 m)
20. can tolerate varying levels of water salinity
21. do not live in freshwater
22. popular for aquariums
23. C. Biology
24. sexual or asexual reproduction
25. mineralogy: calcite (calcium carbonate,CaCO3)
26. this compound sometimes contains Mg as well
27. “fouling:” sloughing off outer layer of cells
28. compete with algae attempting to grow on top of preexisting coralline algae
29. eliminate burrowing organisms in outer layer
30. renew damaged tissue and reproductive cells
31. D. Ecology
32. typically epiphytes
33. promote herbivores and invertebrates
34. algae produce chemicals that attract herbivore larval settlement
35. provide habitat for small reef animals and invertebrates
36. parrot fish and mollusks eat coralline algae
37. calcite production binds reefs together
38. crucial to the structure of reef systems
39. E. Environmental Significance
40. useful for fossil dating
41. commonly found on reefs, but reefs are becoming endangered
42. extracted for economic use
43. geniculate algae are especially targeted
44. used for soil conditioner, animal food additive, pharmaceutical products
45. F. Sources
46. Cabioch, J. "Morphogenesis and Generic Concepts in Coralline Algae — a Reappraisal." Helgoländer Meeresuntersuchungen Helgolander Meeresunters 42.3-4 (1988): 493-509. Web.

"Coralline Algae." Coralline Algae. California State University, Fullerton, n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2016

1. Johansen, H. William. Morphology and Systematics of Coralline Algae with Special Reference to Calliarthron. Berkeley: U of California, 1969. Print.
2. Keats, D.w., M.a. Knight, and C.m. Pueschel. "Antifouling Effects of Epithallial Shedding in Three Crustose Coralline Algae (Rhodophyta, Coralinales) on a Coral Reef." Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology213.2 (1997): 281-93. Web.
3. Martin, Sophie. "Marine Coralline Algae." Marine Coralline Algae. The Encyclopedia of Earth, 15 June 2014. Web. 01 Mar. 2016.
4. Steneck, R. "The Ecology of Coralline Algal Crusts: Convergent Patterns and Adaptative Strategies." Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 17.1 (1986): 273-303. Web. 1 Mar. 2016.
5. Woelkerling, W. J. M.H. Foslie and the Corallinaceae: An Analysis and Indexes. Vaduz: J. Cramer, 1984. Print.