fire coral
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Fire corals (''Millepora'') are a genus of colonial marine organisms that exhibit physical characteristics similar to that of
coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...
. The name coral is somewhat misleading, as fire corals are not true corals but are instead more closely related to ''Hydra'' and other hydrozoans, making them hydrocorals. They make up the only genus in the monotypic family Milleporidae.


Distinguishing characteristics

Fire corals have a bright, yellow-green to brown skeletal covering, and are widely distributed in tropical and subtropical waters. They appear in small, brush-like growths on rocks and coral. Divers often mistake fire coral for seaweed, and accidental contact is common. Upon contact, an intense pain can be felt, lasting from two days to two weeks. Occasional relapses of post-treatment inflammation are common. Prominent side effects can include skin irritation, stinging or burning pain, erythema (skin redness), fever, and/or urticarian (hives) lesions. These side effects are due to venom released from the
nematocyte A cnidocyte (also known as a cnidoblast or nematocyte) is an explosive cell containing one large secretory organelle called a cnidocyst (also known as a cnida () or nematocyst) that can deliver a sting to other organisms. The presence of this ce ...
, as venom is part of the defense mechanism of the fire coral. Despite its mild to moderate potential for pain, the venom is nonlethal to humans. The very small
nematocyst A cnidocyte (also known as a cnidoblast or nematocyte) is an explosive cell containing one large secretory organelle called a cnidocyst (also known as a cnida () or nematocyst) that can deliver a sting to other organisms. The presence of this ce ...
s on fire corals contain tentacles, protruding from numerous surface pores (similar to
jellyfish Jellyfish and sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrella- ...
stingers). In addition, fire corals have a sharp, calcified external skeleton that can scrape the skin. Fire coral has several common growth forms; these include branching, plate, and encrusting. Branching fire coral adopts a calcareous structure which branches off into rounded, finger-like tips. Plate-growing fire coral forms a shape similar to that of fellow
cnidarian Cnidaria () is a phylum under kingdom Animalia containing over 11,000 species of aquatic animals found both in freshwater and marine environments, predominantly the latter. Their distinguishing feature is cnidocytes, specialized cells that th ...
lettuce corals - erect, thin sheets, which group together to form a colony. In encrusting fire coral, growth takes place on the surface structure of calcareous coral or gorgonian structures. The gonophores in the family Milleporidae arise from the coenosarc (the hollow living tubes of the upright branching individuals of a colony), within chambers embedded entirely in the
coenosteum In corals, the coenosteum is the stony skeletal material secreted by the coenosarc, the layer of living material lying between the corallites (the stony cups in which the polyps sit). The coenosteum is composed of aragonite Aragonite is a carbon ...
(the calcareous mass forming the skeleton of a compound coral).


Distribution and habitat

Fire corals are found on
reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...
s in tropical and subtropical waters, such as the Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.Veron, J.E.N. (2000) ''Corals of the World.'' Vol. 3. Australian Institute of Marine Sciences, Townsville, Australia. The highest densities of fire coral are found in the marine waters of South and Southeast Asia; from
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
in the west to as far east as
French Polynesia )Territorial motto: ( en, "Great Tahiti of the Golden Haze") , anthem = , song_type = Regional anthem , song = " Ia Ora 'O Tahiti Nui" , image_map = French Polynesia on the globe (French Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of Frenc ...
; south to coastal northern Australia, and north to
Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...
and extreme southern Japan. They are common in all coastal regions of the
Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate ...
and the
Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...
, as well as off of
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, and up the entire eastern side of the African continent;
Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
,
Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...
,
Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...
, the
Maldives Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...
,
Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...
and the
Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands (Spanish: , , ) are an archipelago of volcanic islands. They are distributed on each side of the equator in the Pacific Ocean, surrounding the centre of the Western Hemisphere, and are part of the Republic of Ecuador ...
support known populations of fire coral. Additionally, they are found throughout the Caribbean, along Brazil’s Atlantic coast (near the equator), and both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of Panamá. Fire corals form extensive outcrops on projecting parts of reefs where the tidal currents are strongest. They are also abundant on upper reef slopes and in lagoons, and occur down to deep.


Biology

The polyps of fire corals are near microscopic size and are mostly embedded in the skeleton and connected by a network of minute canals. All that is visible on the smooth surface are pores of two sizes: gastropores and dactylopores. In fact, Millepora means ‘thousand pores’. Dactylozooids have long fine hairs that protrude from the skeleton. The hairs possess clusters of stinging cells and capture prey, which is then engulfed by gastrozooids, or feeding polyps, situated within the gastropores. As well as capturing prey, fire corals gain nutrients via their special
symbiotic Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasit ...
relationship with algae known as zooxanthellae. The zooxanthellae live inside the tissues of the coral, and provide the coral with food, which they produce through
photosynthesis Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored i ...
, so require sunlight. In return, the coral provides the algae with protection and access to sunlight. Reproduction in fire corals is more complex than in other reef-building corals. The polyps reproduce asexually, producing jellyfish-like medusae, which are released into the water from special cup-like structures known as ampullae. The medusae contain the reproductive organs that release eggs and sperm into the water. Fertilised eggs develop into free-swimming larvae that will eventually settle on the substrate and form new colonies. Fire corals can also reproduce asexually by fragmentation. Various fire corals are among the most common causes of minor stinging incidents in humans.


Threats and conservation

Fire corals face the many threats impacting coral reefs globally, including poor land management practices releasing more sediment, nutrients, and pollutants into the oceans and stressing the fragile reef ecosystem.
Overfishing Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing fish stock), resulting in th ...
has ‘knock-on’ effects that result in the increase of macroalgae that can outcompete and smother corals, and fishing using destructive methods physically devastates the reef. A further potential threat is the increase of coral bleaching events, as a result of global climate change. Most fire coral species have brittle skeletons that can easily be broken, for example, during storms, or by divers when diving for leisure, or when collecting fish for the aquarium trade. For instance, the yellowtail damselfish ('' Chrysiptera parasema'') tends to dwell close to the branching fire coral colonies, and retreats into its branches when threatened. In
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, fire coral colonies are extensively damaged when harvesting the yellowtail damselfish, as the corals are often deliberately smashed and fishes hiding amongst the branches are ‘shaken out’ into plastic bags. Fire corals are listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).


Species

Fifteen species of ''Millepora'' are currently recognised: *''
Millepora alcicornis ''Millepora alcicornis'', or sea ginger, is a species of colonial fire coral with a calcareous skeleton. It is found on shallow water coral reefs in the tropical west Atlantic Ocean. It shows a variety of different morphologies depending on its l ...
'' Linnaeus, 1758 *'' Millepora boschmai'' de Weerdt & Glynn, 1991 *'' Millepora braziliensis'' Verrill, 1868 *'' Millepora complanata'' Lamarck, 1816 *''
Millepora dichotoma ''Millepora dichotoma'', the net fire coral, is a species of hydrozoan, consisting of a colony of polyps with a calcareous skeleton. Description ''M. dichotoma'' is a colonial hermatypic coral with a calcareous endoskeleton. They form colonie ...
'' (Forsskål, 1775) *''
Millepora exaesa Fire corals (''Millepora'') are a genus of colonial marine organisms that exhibit physical characteristics similar to that of coral. The name coral is somewhat misleading, as fire corals are not true corals but are instead more closely related ...
'' (Forsskål, 1775) *'' Millepora foveolata'' Crossland, 1952 *'' Millepora intricata'' Milne-Edwards & Haime, 1860 *'' Millepora laboreli'' Amaral, 2008 *'' Millepora latifolia'' Boschma, 1948 *'' Millepora nitida'' Verrill, 1868 *'' Millepora nodulosa'' Nemenzo, 1984 *''
Millepora platyphylla ''Millepora platyphylla'' is a species of fire coral, a type of hydrocoral, in the family Milleporidae. It is also known by the common names blade fire coral and plate fire coral. It forms a calcium carbonate skeleton and has toxic, defensive po ...
'' Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1834 *'' Millepora squarrosa'' Lamarck, 1816 *''
Millepora tenera ''Millepora tenera'' is a species of fire coral in the family Milleporidae. It is native to the Red Sea and the western Indo-Pacific region and is a zooxanthellate species with a calcareous skeleton. It was first described in 1949 by the Dutch z ...
'' Boschma, 1948


Further reading

* *


References


External links

*
"Fire Coral Cuts Treatment"
at
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* http://www.emedicinehealth.com/wilderness_fire_coral_cuts/article_em.htm {{Taxonbar, from=Q1409569 Milleporidae