Hmmm?? Do corals die of old age???

[Hypertek99]

I was sitting here wondering if corals die of old age??? Haha.

 

[nino78]

No not really. That's one of the coolest things about corals. They can basically live forever. They never stop growing.

 

[oceanparadise1]

no corals never die of age

 

[ahayes13]

hummm... that is interesting i never really thought of that though. how cool that they keep growing even when sooooo "old"

 

[Nate82]

ha i was talking to one of my lfs and he said he has had a coral longer than I've been alive (18yrs) ha it's a fungia and it has a diameter of about a foot.. pretty cool

 

[oceanparadise1]

yea g is the one who told me that corals never die i asked him the same question so it make u wonder...is coral really alive to begin with? lol

 

[Nate82]

yea... trees don't ever die either... they're just more like plants than animals

 

[GMaquarium]

Yes, coral is alive and its an animal. Ever think how the reef structures were built. As an animal they do not age, most cnidarians are very simple creatures, and they do die like all other things, but for the most part because of somthing happening (environment or preditors).

 

[oceanparadise1]

lol i knew g would chime in always helping he is!

 

[LorenK]

i'm not sure that tree's don't die. There are some pretty old trees out there (bristlecone pine for example), why aren't all trees that have not been logged that old?

Corals are more like colony animals. I don't think it's correct to think of a coral as a single animal, but hundreds or thousands of animals. But I'm no biologist.

yea... trees don't ever die either... they're just more like plants than animals

 

[All Delight]

I asked my LFS one day why he thought one of my corals could've died. He said, "sometimes corals just don't want to live anymore". hahaha, I couldn't hold it in, I starting laughing. He said, "I'm serious".

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I asked my LFS one day why he thought one of my corals could've died. He said, "sometimes corals just don't want to live anymore". hahaha, I couldn't hold it in, I starting laughing. He said, "I'm serious".

LOL!!! :hammer:

 

[coral88]

Trees have a lifespan just is a lot longer for some than others. Some only live 25-35 years.
Coral more than likely has a lifespan as well but who has ever had a coral for several hundred years??? If it can live forever I would like to know how that works from a biological point of view.

 

[oceanparadise1]

I asked my LFS one day why he thought one of my corals could've died. He said, "sometimes corals just don't want to live anymore". hahaha, I couldn't hold it in, I starting laughing. He said, "I'm serious".

i would have so laughed at him!

 

[fishes2889]

Everything dies eventually...but they don't die of old age. They die because of conditions, predators, and other competing more aggressive corals.

 

[oceanparadise1]

thats what i thought BUT then i talked to G, who knows ten fold what i know about this and he brought up a good point, have u ever heard of a coral dieing due to age?

 

[Nate82]

no but i've heard of corals dying and not knowing why i mean how would you know if it's age or something else?

 

[oceanparadise1]

corals dont show age, so if some thing doesnt really show age how could it die of age?

 

[oceanparadise1]

G, chime in and tell them what u said to me, i forgot how u put it when i asked u if corals die

 

[Nate82]

yea but... how do you know they don't show age? i mean they're constantly growing new polyps so maybe they just have a ridiculously long life span so age doesn't show to us.. i mean if they have a lifespan of 100 or more years there's no way we would be able to see age