Final Flashcards
Cnidarians
corals, sea anemones, jellies.
Annelids
Marine worms & snails
Arthropods
Crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp
Poriferians
Sponges
Mollusk
Snails, sea slugs, bivalves (scallops), Cephalopods –squid/octopus
Enchinoderms
Sea stars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers
Chordata
Reptiles, marine animals, birds, etc.
Small oval fish
Blue hamlet
Odd-shaped swimmers
Goatfish
Sharks and rays
Whale shark
Silvery fish
Redfin needle fish
Disk/large oval shaped
Queen angelfish
Eels
Spotted moray eel
Heavy body/large lip
Groupers
Sloping head and tapered body
Grunts
Swims with pectoral fins
Parrotfish
Chromatophores
Cells that contain pigments.
Stimulated by nerve impulses and hormones.
The higher the density of these cells the more brilliant color the fish.
Iridophores
Cells with crystals that reflect light.
Act like a mirror.
Typical of silvery fishes
Can display different shades of green, blue, pink, and iridescence.
Purpose of colors, patterns, shapes of some coral reef fish?
Camouflage for predators and prey, Courtship, Mating, Egg Garding, Counter-shading: conceal movements, Conceal eye, Exaggerate size, Advertise toxicity, Aid schooling behavior Angelfish announce territories with bright colors and behavior.
Colors and patterns can indicate social and sexual status (Blue Tang Juvenile)
Lost several types of trophic roles that coral reefs may play: examples?
Territorial herbivores Planktivores Corallivores - parrotfish Sedentary predators Swimming predators-sharks
Copepods
Abundant members if zooplankton (key component to the aquatic food chain)
Reproduction
Coral Reef fish and invertebrates mainly utilize External Fertilization
Millions of gametes are released into the water, fertilization happens.
These gamete clouds occur high above the reef.
Zygotes develop into young embryos, which then develop into larvae.
If each male and female only needs to produce two offspring to replace themselves, why produce tens of thousands of eggs annually?
Larvae are small, independent and morphologically different from adults.
Some swim, some drift.
A typical voyage in the Caribbean lasts between 14-30 days.
MOST DON’T MAKE IT!
Settlement
Weeks after fertilization, and sometimes hundreds miles from their origins, the survivors surf toward shore during the night on incoming tides and settle to shallow sea floor.
Recruitment
Over the next several hours to days, the larvae metamorphise into juvenile reef fishes-become attached to their sites.
This process of drifting in, settling and either actively or passively choosing a site to live called recruitment.
Most larvae need to locate a specific bottom type to settle.
Grass bed Mangroves Sand flats Rubble fields Patch Reefs
Some settle and stay where they are.
Some settle in Nursery grounds and then migrate.
Why live in a nursery ground and then Mirgrate?
Grass beds allow smaller fish to hide and escape from predators.
Large predatory fish can’t get in or move around well in thick grasses, mangrove roots.
Classic competition model
High diversity is the result of strong competitive interactions following recruitment competitive interactions following recruitment the leads to a high degree of specialization.
Each species has a specific set of adaptions that give it the competitive edge- i.e., each has a narrower ecological niche (Resource partitioning)
Recruitment limitation model
The adult population reflects variation in larval recruitment, not later events like competition.
So the community structure is limited by who happens to get recruited there.
Many potentially favorable sites go unoccupied.
Predation may also play a role
Why are coral reefs important?
Biodiversity
Economic importance, tourism, food, etc.
Protect shorelines
Medical Benefits
