Several species of corals with small polyps showed no signs of aggression and lived together without loss of growth. The most dominant coral was Hydnophora, which killed every coral it came in contact with. They built racks that put corals in contact with each other and observed as some species out-competed others. In addition, another student group tested the competitive abilities of various species. Over the course of the semester, students found that the corals grew best under low turbulence, blue light, and that extra food increased the growth of one coral species, but not the other two in the experiment. They produced over 200 of their own coral specimens by fragmenting mother colonies and attaching the pieces to plugs which they then grew under a variety of conditions: high and low food, variable wavelengths of light (blue and purple vs red and white), and high, medium, and low turbulence. For example, students in “Bio 3340: Coral Reef Ecology,” performed semester-long experiments investigating coral growth rates. The aquarium lab is an important part of the aquarium courses. Our newest tank is the Cardinalfish tank, featuring our school mascot (see below). Another is a Caribbean ecotope featuring only Atlantic reef organisms. For example, one current tank is an anemone tank, set up and maintained by Carly Lech ’23. These tanks serve a variety of purposes including student research projects, raising coral “frags,” and giving our students a chance to explore a particular theme. Our main experimental system is a 400 gallon system of 10 reef tanks in the Aquarium Lab (Science Rm 113). The display tank also includes corals that are our mother colonies that we periodically “prune” to grow fragments for our other tanks. The tank is used to demonstrate invertebrate diversity in many courses, but its other value is as a place for students to relax, reflect, and check in with Nemo (our clownfish) and Bubbles (our yellow tang) among others. The tank has been growing for eight years and is now a thriving ecosystem that shows the beauty and intricacies of a natural reef community. This 300-gallon sustainable reef tank houses three dozen species of hard coral, another dozen soft corals, gorgonians, anemones, reef fish, invertebrates, and even some algae. The aquarium system most students see first, often on their campus tour, is the “display tank” in the first floor hallway of the Science Building (Rm 110).
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