Page 357 - Central America

eproduction in fire corals is more complex the branches of fire corals when diving for leisure, fire coral patches. This classic Darwinian selected
Rthan in other reef-building corals. The pol-
yps 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. Fer-
tilized 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.
Most fire coral species have brittle skeletons
that can easily be broken, for example, dur-
ing storms, or by divers. Divers can easily break
or when collecting fish for the aquarium trade.
For instance, the yellowtail damselfish tends to
dwell close to the branching fire coral colonies,
and retreats into its branches when threatened.
In Brazil, fire coral colonies are extensively dam-
aged when harvesting the yellowtail damselfish,
as the corals are often deliberately smashed and
fishes hiding amongst the branches are ‘shaken
out’ into plastic bags.
The unique colorization of fire corals and the
large patches they can form becomes home
to many sea critters than have taken on adap-
tive colors that mix and match the color of the
adaptive natural selection has resulted in sea
critters taken on the color scheme of the fire
coral patch itself. A classic example is a species of
file fish that has developed a color scheme that
matches the color of the fire coral itself near Klein
Bonaire. Fire coral comes in a range of colors in-
cluding red, yellow, brown, green, purple, white
and almost every color of the rainbow. A sting
from first coral can be painful. Blisters form and
the skin peals away. The skin will scab over and
then heal. The process can take up to two weeks.