Macrofossils: Corals Flashcards

1
Q

What class are corals? And when did they split off from other animal lineages?

A

Cnidarians. They split before bilateralism evolved.

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2
Q

What does each coral polyp have?

A

Exoskeleton

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3
Q

What are the respective names for sessile and motile corals?

A

Polyps and medusae

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4
Q

What type of gut do corals have?

A

Blind

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5
Q

Why are corals mostly found in shallow water?

A

They form symbiotic relations with photosynthetic algae.

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6
Q

How do corals reproduce?

A

Sexually or asexually

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7
Q

What are the two types of extinct corals and when did they go extinct?

A

Rugose and tabular corals went extinct at the P-T extinction.

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8
Q

What is the only type of extant coral?

A

Scleractinia

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9
Q

When were tabulate corals most successful?

A

Ordovician and Silurian

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10
Q

When were rugose corals most succesful?

A

Devonian and Carboniferous

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11
Q

When did scleractinian corals evolve?

A

Triassic

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12
Q

What type of seas are corals found in?

A

Shallow tropical seas that are agitated, oxygenated and over 18deg. C.

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13
Q

Define corralum

A

A solitary coral individual or the whole skeleton of a colonial coral, made up from individual corallites

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14
Q

Define theca

A

Skeletal wall of the coral

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15
Q

Define calice

A

The upper part of the corallum where the polyp sits

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16
Q

What is the name for the growth lines on the outside of the corallum?

A

Ruga

17
Q

How is the composition of skeletal material of Scleractinian different to those of Rugosa and Tabulata?

A

It is made of aragonite rather that calcite

18
Q

What do Scleractinia have to provide stability that Rugosa and Tabulate did not have?

A

Basal plate