Coral Primary Polyp Settlement on Crustose Coralline Algae from India

Abstract

Crustose coralline algae (CCA) are calcareous red algae belonging to the diverse group Rhodophyta. They are known to play numerous important ecological roles in the coral reef ecosystems such as various invertebrate larval settlement, cementing the reef together, participating effectively in primary productivity. One of the most important ecological roles these algae play, are the settlement and metamorphosis of coral larvae. Though lots of observations have been made on a juvenile coral being settled on CCA, there has not been any study on the initial settlement of coral larvae on CCA. The present study was carried out in the intertidal regions of South Andaman district. During intertidal survey, a single thin layered CCA was observed to house four different coral recruits which had settled and metamorphosed to form a single polyp coral.