Have you ever wondered what kind of coral you can see in a coral reef? I’m here to tell you about one of those fabulous animals. The coral I am going to be talking about is the Knotted Fan Coral.

 

The Knotted Fan Coral is a 1 foot tall red-blue plant-like animal. The Knotted Fan Coral as in its name look like a fan. And has a skeleton pattern to it.

 

The Knotted Fan Coral is found in mostly warm tropical waters. And serve as homes to fish and protection for them from predators. But mostly they act as beautiful gardens to the sea floor. The size of the population is very large. They are not in the red zone for decreasing population. The population is working at a normal rate like the others. And with the growing population fish are finding new homes.

 

Knotted Fan Coral eat by sucking in microscopic food particles, and absorb or dissolve organic matter. They do not compete for their food because they basically eat plankton, and plankton outnumber the human population. They don’t really have animals that eat them. But they are susceptible to algae and cyanbacteria within its branches. The coral have no way to fight its attackers only the fish if they are lucky will eat it off.

 

Other interesting facts that I learned but didn’t put in the report were these. That coral come from dead animals. The coral is actually the bones of the dead animal. That’s why it gets its skeleton-like feature. And that the skeleton is covered with a membrane. Also that specifically the Knotted Fan Coral is used in most jewelry. In the jewelry world it is known as the Red Spongy Coral. But since of its growth rate the Knotted Fan Coral is farmed and used in jewelry.

 

So in conclusion, I thought that the Knotted Fan Coral was going to be a boring project but it turned out to be a very interesting animal, and I am glad that I got it.

 

Author: Oscar E 

Published: 2/2013

 

Sources:  D.N Jeans “Coral”

World Book Encyclopedia. 1998 ed. Vol. 4

Clarice Braugh CRS Carrie Mc Birney

Animal-World.com  “Coral”

                                               

“Coral”  RedOrbit.com