The connection between polyps allows for the sharing of nutrients. Beneath the soft bodies of scleractinian, or stony corals, polyps secrete a calcium carbonate skeleton, and it is this skeleton ...

Coral diseases, particularly in the Caribbean, have caused major declines in coral populations, especially affecting staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) and Elkhorn (A. palmata) corals, which play a ...

They group together, forming colonies encased in a rigid, stony shell anchored to the ... the Solomon Islands is the largest singular piece of coral, it pales in comparison to the largest coral ...

While some coral genotypes displayed resistance to either high nutrient levels or disease, none were resistant to both ...

"All of these things stress corals and throw off their natural balance, which leads to increased incidence of diseases like stony coral tissue loss disease," she said. READ MORE: UM study finds ...

But this isn't a mere fish or a marine mammal; it's Pavona Clavus, a kind of colonial stony coral. Corals are distant cousins of jellyfish and sea anemones but are surrounded by a hard shell and ...