User:Hannahferraro/Dipsastraea speciosa

Description
Dipsastraea speciosa (previously called Favia speciosa) is a species of coral in the family Merulinidae. It contains rounded corallites which are found to be more closely compacted when in shallow water and more widely spaced in deeper water. The corallites tend to be diameters of 10 to 15 mm. This species can be distinguished from the more common Dipsastraea pallida, with which it has often been confused, by its septa, which are fine, numerous, close but regularly spaced. Both the septa and costae have fine, evenly spaced teeth. The coral is often pale grey, green, or brown, often with calices of contrasting color. Colonies of Dipsastraea speciosa tend to be massive.

Habitat
It is a tropical coral found in all shallow, tropical reef environments in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It can be found at depths ranging from 0 to 40m. It can be fond in all reef environments, sub-tidal on rocks, rocky reefs, outer reef channel, black and fore-slopes and in lagoons. Dipsastraea speciosa prefers waters ranging from 23° to 29° Celsius but can tolerate temperatures slightly above and below.

Feeding
Like most other corals, they contain photosynthetic algae, called zooxanthellae. Dipsastraea speciosa and the algae have a mutualistic relationship.The algae lives within the coral polyps and uses sunlight to make energy. The coral provides protection and the compounds needed for photosynthesis. In return the algae produces oxygen and helps the coral to remove waste. Most importantly, the zooxanthellae supplies the coral with glucose, glycerol and amino acids. The coral then uses these to make proteins, fats and carbohydrates which help produce their calcium carbonate skeleton. The relationship between the zooxanthellae and the coral polyp creates a tight recycling of nutrients in nutrient-poor tropical waters and is the driving force behind the growth and productivity of the reef.

In addition corals also eat through filter feeding. At night, coral polyps come out of their skeletons to feed, stretching their nematocysts to capture plankton floating by. The prey is then pulled into the polyps' mouthes and digested in their stomach cavity.

Life Cycle
Dipsastraea speciosa is a hermaphrodite meaning they produce both sperm and egg gametes for reproduction. Mature corals use energy to produce their gametes through meiosis. Dipsastraea speciosa then releases their gametes into the water column. The gametes float to the surface and external fertilization takes place. Once the egg is fertilized it becomes a zygote develops into a planktonic larva called planula and floats around the water column by currents. The planula is a type of zooplankton which is able to maneuver by cilia that covers its body. Eventually the planula settles on a hard substrate and begins to undergo metamorphosis transforming it from a juvenile to an adult. The juvenile polyp begins to lay down a calcium carbonate corallite and begins early morphogenesis of tentacles, septa and pharynx before larval settlement on the aboral end. Since it is a colonial coral, the polyp then goes through asexual reproduction to form more polyps, expanding the size of the coral colony and increasing the number of coral polyps.

Conservation and Protection
Dipsastraea speciosa was cited as "Least Concern" on the IUCN Red List in January 2008 although its population trend is decreasing. It faces threats such as residential and commercial development, transportation and services through shipping lanes, fishing and harvesting for aquatic resources like aquariums, human recreational activities, pollution such as domestic and urban wastewater and climate change. Parts of the range of Dipsastraea speciosa falls within Marine Protected Areas providing them some protection.

Research
Dipsastraea speciosa is studied in lots of research because it is a good indicator of the overall health of the ecosystem. It has been studied to better understand reef formation and maintenance of coral reef ecosystems and their response to changing environments. In one study, Dipsastraea speciosa was tested to see how its morphological, physiological or behavioral expression of a genotype is effected by environment-dependent variation. To test this, plastic was transplanted into corals found at shallow and deep depths. It was found that the shallow water corals showed little to no change, but the deeper corals responded by changing dramatically. The oral disks lost their bright green pigmentation and the surrounding tissues turned pale brown. This showed that plasticity in color was evident and probably light-induced.