Building Specific Galleries - Florida Coral Reef Gallery
Florida Coral Reefs
- Reefs contribute to Florida’s economy through fisheries, tourism, research and education.
- Florida has the only shallow-water tropical reef system along the continental United States.
- The Florida Keys are home to over 60 species and subspecies.
- A generation of small finger corals lasts a few years; life for large brain corals can be hundreds of years.
- The outside of coral reefs is alive; the inside is stony limestone (calcium carbonate). Coral polyps are the actual animal.
- Common species in this exhibit include:
- Green moray eel
- Porkfish
- Yellowtail snapper
- Queen triggerfish
- Tarpon
- Mangrove snapper
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- Bluehead wrasse
- Black-tip reef shark
- Porcupinefish
- Red grouper
- Brown spotted moray eel
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Florida Staghorn Corals
- Thickets of spiky staghorn coral are located where the water is shallow, just below the waves.
- Corals live in colonies. One staghorn colony contains thousands of individual members (polyps).
- Staghorn corals, which look like antlers, are fast-growing reef builders.
- These corals grow in water that’s clear and warm – between 68 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Staghorn corals prefer two exposed zones; the reef front (fore reef zone) and reef back (back reef zone). Sitting in shallow water they are exposed to strong sunlight and wave-created surge. Bright light and motion produce the high energy of these zones.
- Staghorn coral
- Elkhorn cora
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Florida Elkhorn Corals
- Water washes across the reef, sculpting elkhorn corals and hollowing out caves.
- In sunlit shallow water, elkhorn coral is branched. In deep or rough water, elkhorn coral forms a more plate-like structure.
- A coral’s genes actually start its shape. The environment sculpts its final form.
- Elkhorn corals offer hiding places to fishes and other reef creatures.
Florida Soft Corals
- Where the water washes back and forth, just below the waves, a field of supple soft corals sway in the surge.
- Plumes, whips and fans (all coral colonies) wave in the surge on the reef.
- Most soft corals feed during the day, while hard corals eat at night.
- Sea fans show a current’s direction. They sit at a 90 degree angle – perfect for sifting passing food.
- Soft coral branches shelter tiny shrimps, fishes and snails.
- Soft corals live beneath the water in the wave-washed zone (the reef crest) where they can catch microscopic food drifting past.
- Soft coral’s skeletons can flex – an adaptation to water surge – hard corals, staghorns and other, lays down a rigid base of the mineral calcium carbonate.
- Soft corals thrive in wave surge. Waves wash away smothering silt and deliver food and oxygen.
- Common species:
Reef Face (Giant Barrel Sponge)
- Where the Reef plunges toward the deep, the light dims. In this zone, the bright colors of the shallows fade to grays.
- Ocean currents deliver microscopic food to the sponges and corals that cover the reef as a crust.
- Though the light is low and currents are strong, life is plastered all over the face of the reef. Corals form plates to gather every precious ray of light.
- The currents that sweep past reefs may be stronger than you think. The Florida Current flows at about 3.5 miles per hour (5.5km).
- Currents can pry reef residents loose and carry them out to sea. Unwary divers can be swept far from shore.
- Over hundreds of years, currents carve tunnels and pillars. Filter-feeding corals and sponges plaster the reef’s walls, reaching out to feast on the banquet caught in the current.
- Red boring sponge
- Pink vase sponge
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Reef Mysteries and Myths
- Many reefs contain “cleaning stations”.
- Bold colors and actions advertise the location of a cleaning station.
- Cleaner fish or shrimp pick parasite from the skin, gills and mouth of a waiting fish. Fishes get rid of itches they may have while cleaners snack in safety.
- Most sharks must swim to pass oxygen-rich water over their gills, but rays and some sharks, like nurse sharks, can pump water over the gills while resting.
- Colors and patterns on fishes either disguise or advertise.
- Bars help body shapes blend into backgrounds.
- Tail spots resemble eyes to confuse a predator as it strikes.
- Jackknife species
- Queen angelfish
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- Fishes don’t sleep like we do, but reef fishes have active and inactive times. Some prefer days, while others are active at night.
- Blackbar soldierfish
- Gray snapper
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Florida Corals Alive
- Small individual animals, called coral polyps, make a mineral base of calcium carbonate.
- Thousands of polyps growing together from large colonies (coral heads). As colonies grow over thousands of years, they create massive reefs.
- Tiny plant cells, called zooxanthellae (say ‘zo-zan-thel-ee), live within coral tissue. These plant cells use sunlight to make food for their hosts.
- To keep zooxanthellae working, corals grow in sunlight. In return, wastes produced by the corals, fertilize these plant cells.
- A coral colony begins as a tiny larva seeking a place to settle. If it finds a spot, it attaches and immediately starts to build a mineral base. When it’s grown, it divides and forms clones. So starts a coral colony.
- Corals dine mostly on food provided by plant cells living within them (zooxanthellae)- that’s why they grow in sunlit waters. Some corals also use tentacles lined with stinging cells (nematocysts), (say ne-‘ma-toe-sists), to capture prey.
- Too much sunlight can make water too warm for corals. Under such stress, corals drive out the plant cells (zooxanthellae) within them. With their food-producing tenants gone, corals become bleached and can die. Shade and surge will help our living corals keep their color.
- Corals grow best in water that is clear, salty and low in nutrients. Bay water is too murky and diluted for their liking.
- For the Aquarium’s coral reef community, barges bring seawater in regularly to us from an area out in the Gulf of Mexico, well beyond the mouth of Tampa Bay.
- At the top of this exhibit are skimmer boxes. They send over-flowing water into a filtration system where particles depart, toxins detoxify and temperatures adjust. The cleaned water re-enters the exhibit at the bottom, flows and, the process begins again.
- Common species include:
- Blue tang
- Spanish hogfish
- Damselfish
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