The Acropora genera is a group of coral species which are known as the staghorn corals or branching corals. These corals play an important part in reef building as they grow very rapidly in shallow waters of reefs. These types of corals are referred to as hermatypic corals due to their reef building capacity. They are considered the fastest growing corals and as a result aggressively compete for the space in the coral reef ecosystem. Unfortunately their skeletons are very light and fragile due to their fast growth rates and they are therefore very easily damaged in heavy currents and stormy conditions (climate change increases the severity and frequency of storms through ocean warming and hence directly impacts these species). The skeleton of the Acropora genus is built by corallites which are located at the tips of each branch thus the colony grows in a tree-like structure. …show more content…
Staghorn corals are similar to other coral species and live in a symbiotic relationship with zooxanthellae, an algae which manufactures its food through photosynthesizes and provides additional nutrients to the coral polyps. In exchange the algae is provided a stable habitat on the coral structure and polyps. These zooxanthellae provide an important source of nutrients for the coral which is also supplemented by zooplankton. The fact that there is this strong dependence on photosynthesizing zooxantellae means that these corals are restricted to habitats close to the water surface where sunlight can