A recent study led by Taiwan’s Academia Sinica is reshaping the conventional understanding of coral reef formation by showing that soft corals can build reefs, the state-backed research body said July 15.
Soft corals, with tiny calcite sclerites embedded inside, have long been considered insignificant reef builders, while stony corals with calcium carbonate skeletons were recognized as the primary architects of reefs, according to researchers.
“But our findings show that at least one group of soft corals can consolidate the discrete sclerites into solid reef structures,” said Jeng Ming-shiou, project leader and researcher at Academia Sinica’s Biodiversity Research Center.
Jeng said the study was inspired by a chunk from a soft coral Sinularia colony that was found in 1985 in southern Taiwan’s Kenting National Park, washed up after a storm. Field surveys found more Sinularia sclerite rocks both on land and in the sea, with some weighing over 1 metric ton, Jeng added.
Section-radiographs showed regular density banding of the sclerites similar to trees and massive reef corals, indicating that the sclerites had been deposited periodically over time, Jeng explained. The team thus concluded that components of permanent reef structures can be produced by sinularian octocorals, he said.
As these fleshy octocorals can live in more turbid environments than scleractinian, or stony corals, species from the genus Sinularia are capable of building reef structures through accretion in areas where stony coral communities cannot develop, the researchers explained.
The study is a joint effort of Academia Sinica, the National Museum of Natural Science, National Taiwan University and Tel Aviv University. It was published in the June issue of the journal Coral Reefs. (THN)
Write to Meg Chang at meg.chang@mail.gio.gov.tw