HOW DO CORALS GROW

[stevieduk]

Sat watching my tank today, and looking at my corals starting to grow, and had a puzzling thought.
o k i know they build up a calcium skeleton and grow on that, but if you look at S P S corals they always have white tips or edges where the calcium is being formed before the "flesh" expands onto it,
so here is the question , how does it build the new calcium , if there is no "flesh" or polyps there to build it ????????????????????

 

[NY_Caveman]

My non-scientific understanding and explanation of it:
the “skin” of the coral is worked through the whole part of the skeletal structure in the parts where a coral is alive. Kind of like veins. The outer layer of skin will eventually grow over the new skeletal growth as you mention. The colony throughout is connected by living tissue on the surface and within.

 

[Jose Mayo]

Sat watching my tank today, and looking at my corals starting to grow, and had a puzzling thought.
o k i know they build up a calcium skeleton and grow on that, but if you look at S P S corals they always have white tips or edges where the calcium is being formed before the "flesh" expands onto it,
so here is the question , how does it build the new calcium , if there is no "flesh" or polyps there to build it ????????????????????

You do not see the flesh at the tips, because it is transparent, but it is there.

Regards

 

[stevieduk]

o k thanks both. interesting part of the hobby that we dont get taught

 

[DJ H]

MAGIC

 

[NY_Caveman]

o k thanks both. interesting part of the hobby that we dont get taught

Check out Blue Planet, Episode 6 titled Coral Seas. That have some cool time lapse footage and animations if coral growth and behaviors of you are interested. It is on Netflix, maybe other places as well. My kids loved it too.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Here's an interesting read:

The Chemical and Biochemical Mechanisms of Calcification