What are the four different types of coral reefs?

What are the four different types of coral reefs?

Scientists generally agree on four different coral reef classifications: fringing reefs, barrier reefs, atolls, and patch reefs. Fringing reefs grow near the coastline around islands and continents. They are separated from the shore by narrow, shallow lagoons.

How many different types of coral reefs are there in the world?

three distinct types
Coral reefs live and grow all throughout the world’s ocean, and there are three distinct types: fringing, barrier, and atoll reefs.

What are the 3 zones of coral reefs?

Coral reefs can be separated into three distinct zones: the back reef, reef crest, and fore-reef (Figure 7). The back reef includes the shallow lagoon between the shore and coral reef. This habitat includes small patches of corals, sea grass beds, and sand plains.

What are polyps coral reef?

A coral polyp is an invertebrate that can be no bigger than a pinhead to up to a foot in diameter. Each polyp has a saclike body and a mouth that is encircled by stinging tentacles. The polyp uses calcium carbonate (limestone) from seawater to build a hard, cup-shaped skeleton.

How many different types of coral are there in the Great Barrier Reef?

600 different types
About 600 different types of coral can be found in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, and all of them come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colours.

What are 5 major biotic factors in coral reefs?

Biotic factors include plants, animals, and microbes; important abiotic factors include the amount of sunlight in the ecosystem, the amount of oxygen and nutrients dissolved in the water, proximity to land, depth, and temperature.

What are the main types of coral in the Great Barrier Reef?

There is a multitude of different kinds of coral on the Great Barrier Reef, including hundreds of species of both hexacorals (hard corals) and octocorals (sea pens, blue corals, soft corals and sea fans). Hard corals can be further separated into two sub-groups.

What are the holes in coral called?

Have you ever noticed those small holes, usually pink around the rims, on Cauliflower coral? It’s actually made by a crab. The crab (Utinomiella dimorpha), referred to as the Cauliflower Coral Crab or Kahe Point Crab, is small, only up to 1/4 of an inch.