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[5] [6] Corallivorous fish come from 11 different families. [5] 39 species are obligate corallivores. [5] Butterflyfish have a wide range of adaptations that facilitate coral consumption. Some butterflyfish have long mouth that they use like forceps to pluck off individual coral polyps and some use their teeth to scrape off coral tissue. [2]
Siphonophorae (from Greek siphōn 'tube' + pherein 'to bear' [2]) is an order within Hydrozoa, which is a class of marine organisms within the phylum Cnidaria.According to the World Register of Marine Species, the order contains 175 species described thus far.
While amphibians continued to feed on fish and later insects, reptiles began exploring two new food types, other tetrapods (carnivory), and later, plants (herbivory). Carnivory was a natural transition from insectivory for medium and large tetrapods, requiring minimal adaptation (in contrast, a complex set of adaptations was necessary for ...
Fish need dissolved oxygen to survive, although their tolerance to low oxygen varies among species; in extreme cases of low oxygen, some fish even resort to air gulping. [25] Plants often have to produce aerenchyma, while the shape and size of leaves may also be altered. [26] Conversely, oxygen is fatal to many kinds of anaerobic bacteria. [22]
Resting small fish are still vulnerable to attack by crevice predators, so many fish, such as triggerfish, squeeze into a small hiding place and wedge themselves by erecting their spines. [2] As an example of the adaptations made by reef fish, the yellow tang is a herbivore which feeds on benthic turf algae. They also provide cleaner services ...
The classification of corals has been discussed for millennia, owing to having similarities to both plants and animals. Aristotle's pupil Theophrastus described the red coral, korallion, in his book on stones, implying it was a mineral, but he described it as a deep-sea plant in his Enquiries on Plants, where he also mentions large stony plants that reveal bright flowers when under water in ...
Some planulae contain yolky material and others incorporate zooxanthellae, and these adaptations enable these larvae to sustain themselves and disperse more widely. [2] The planulae of the stony coral Pocillopora damicornis , for example, have lipid-rich yolks and remain viable for as long as 100 days before needing to settle.
For example, off eastern Canada, Morton found juvenile sea urchins, chitons, and limpets suffer nearly 100% mortality due to fish predation unless they are protected by knobby and undercut coralline algae. This is probably an important factor affecting the distribution and grazing effects of herbivores within marine communities.