Pertumbuhan karang

THE CORAL GROWTH. Calcification rates in the ramose corals tend to dec­rease systematically from maximum in the apical polyps to much lower rates in the lateral and basal branches coraflite. Branching corals show much higher growth rates then the massive corals. The decrease in the growth of reef building coral with the increase in colony diameter is the result of physiological senescence.
The calcification rate of corals is directly correlated with light intensity, that is very high during bright sunlight. This is clearly seen in the hermatypic corals hosting symbiotic dinoflagellate, zooxanthellae. Corals without zoon.xanthellae show lower calcification rate compared to those hosting zooxanthellae although the latter recieve lesser sunlight. Therefore, zooxanthel/ae play important role in the process of calcifi­ cation.The production of CaC03 on the reef is 206 ± 10^6 g/yr and removal from the reef is 123 ± 7 X 10^6 g/yr. The CaC03 removal is due to grazing by organism such as worm, gastropod, parrotfisn and sea urchin. Total production of CaC03 on the reef is 163 X 10^6 g/yr and its production rate per unit surface area (excluding loose sediment) is 9 kg/m2 /yr.