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Corals are often considered as a simple part of the seascape, sedentary creatures, forming colonies of various shapes and colors. However, on closer inspection, these small invertebrate animals are very active, grabbing food with tiny tentacles and fighting for territory.
In fact, some people consider them fascinating pets.
Although rare and far apart, coral lovers exist all over the world, taking care of a coral in closely monitored salt water tanks. They also propagate these animals by dividing them into separate colonies and encouraging them to reproduce and grow.
"They are incredibly beautiful, the colors they produce. Everyone loves a good aquarium, but everyone loves it more when it contains corals, "said Megan Dunnock, president of the recently formed Orono University Coral Club in Orono.
Created by a group of marine science students in 2017, the UMaine Coral Club is based at the University's Aquaculture Research Center, where it is responsible for a growing collection of corals.
Aislinn Sarnacki | BDN
Green mushroom coral at the Aquaculture Research Center of the University of Maine at Orono.
"The chance to work with them has been fantastic," Dunnock said. "They are like plants but better."
The incredible world of coral
In relation to anemones and jellyfish, corals are a group of animals individually called "polyps" and usually live in large colonies, which make up the coral reefs. With hundreds of species living in the oceans around the world, their shape, size and color differ greatly, but they all have the same basic structure: a bag-shaped body and a mouth surrounded by tentacles .
Many types of corals use calcium and carbonate ions from seawater to build hard limestone skeletons for protection purposes. And most corals have a mutualistic relationship with algae living in their tissues. Coral provides algae with protection and the necessary compounds for photosynthesis. In exchange, the algae provide the coral products of photosynthesis – glucose, glycerol and amino acids – which they then use to make proteins, fats and carbohydrates, as well as calcium carbonate, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.
"They are fantastic creatures and their role in the ecosystem is incredible," Dunnock said. "The fact that they are one of the largest producers of oxygen, they can protect our coasts, they offer such an intense community for marine animals. Everything I find about them is amazing. "
Aislinn Sarnacki | BDN
Nicole Ritchey (left) and Emma Jourdain, members of the Coral Club of the University of Maine, inspect the club's growing collection of corals at the Aquaculture Research Center located on the UMaine Campus in Orono.
In recent years, the general public has become aware of the important role corals play in the ecosystem for an unfortunate reason: they die.
Several corals have been killed in the last 20 years, including about 30% of the Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef in the world with about 600 types of corals.
These disappearances are linked to fluctuations in the temperature of the water, mainly to warming, which kills the algae on which many corals need energy. When the algae die in the corals, they become white and die, a process called "bleaching".
In response, government agencies and conservation groups around the world are keeping a close eye on coral reefs to find out why they are dying and what can be done to protect them.
Take care of coral
The Coral Club, now in its second year, now has 30 students who meet once a week to talk about the latest news about coral, share their knowledge of coral care and fundraise to support their growing collection.
Since then, they have learned a lot about what coral pets need and do not have. They also discovered that some species had surprising abilities and quirks.
Aislinn Sarnacki | BDN
Caulastrea coral at the Aquaculture Research Center of the University of Maine at Orono.
"It's a bit difficult to manage, it's a bit no," said Nicole Ritchey, Treasurer of the Coral Club. "It's a bit of the same trouble maintaining a tank that you would have for the fish."
Corals need a salinity, a constant temperature and water flow, as well as a special lighting and a degree of cleanliness of the tank. They also need the presence of certain trace elements in the water, which can be supplied with aquarium mixtures such as mineral reef salt.
In addition, some coral species thrive with complementary feeding. For example, the club feeds all its corals, a mixture of algae twice a week. And they feed their duncan corals with tiny pieces of shrimp.
Also called mustache corals or daisy corals, duncans corals are almost like flowers, with large round polyps and long, flexible tentacles. In addition, their colony grows on a central stem in a bouquet-shaped arrangement.
The other corals that the club occupies are the kenya, which grow roughly in the form of tre, their branches waving in the stream; cerebral coral, which spreads on rocks in complex patterns that resemble a human brain; and the frog coral that looks like a mass of frog eggs.
"Frogspawn is the cutest," Ritchey said. "It's just a tuft of little bubbles and the colors are so pretty. I love it when its volume is high, it's kind of a back and forth. It's like grass hills. "
Aislinn Sarnacki | BDN
Emma Jourdain, a member of the University of Maine's Coral Club, is examining the club's growing coral collection at the Aquaculture Research Center located on the UMaine Campus in Orono.
Although "cute", the Frog Frog is one of many types of coral that has spines that it extends to zap prey and nearby corals that it considers too close for comfort.
The club also has a species of coral that contains and emits toxins that can cause fatal symptoms if people touch it, inhale it or ingest it. For this reason, club members wear gloves when they reach the tank.
"They are not all friendly," Dunnock said.
Working with a local reef retailer, Cultivated Reef in Orono, the club plans to continue to expand their collection, using it to educate other students and raise awareness of the importance of these mysterious ocean creatures.
How to get started in coral
To enjoy coral as a pet, the first thing to do is to set up a saltwater tank with temperature control, water flow and specific lighting. To create an optimal environment for your coral, you can work with a local pet store and consult with online coral dealers, many of whom offer customer support.
There are also online resources for creating aquariums, such as seasky.org. And there are books on the subject, such as the 2017 book "A ReefBum Guide to Retaining an SPS Reef Tank: A Model of Success" by Keith Berkelhamer, a reef tank enthusiast for over 25 years.
You will also want to do a lot of research on the type of coral you want to keep, as each species has different needs. For example, some species of corals like a high water flow, others do not. Some need more light than others. And some require specific food.
"The bottom line is to look for what you are doing," said Chris Turnier, World Wide Corals Web Leader, one of the world's largest breeding coral reefs, created in 2006 and located in Orlando, Florida. "There is a lot of information. There are free forums that the burgeoning Reef Keeper can join and every question you want answered is asked. "
Turnier suggests the forum on reef2reef.com, which is free and has a large number of active members.
Aislinn Sarnacki | BDN
Coral frog at the Aquaculture Research Center of the University of Maine at Orono.
Once you have set up the tank and selected the coral, you can buy so-called "frags" (abbreviations of fragments) of coral species from well-established coral traders, such as World Wide Corals. These traders know which corals are protected by national, national and national environmental laws and, if the state in which they do business require it, they may be allowed to import coral and sell it to the public.
You can also discover and buy coral, aquariums and equipment at exhibitions such as Reef-a-Palooza, America's largest salted aquarium aquarium show, held annually in Florida, New York. , in Illinois and California.
"[The hobby of owning coral] is in absolute growth, "said Turnier." You can see from the presence of these salons.
"Different types of people practice this hobby. It goes multimillionaires who have tanks 20 feet long to people who have these tiny nano tanks and everything in between. It's a big challenge to replicate an ocean, and some people are really digging it. "
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