User:Jsmartzz/Thick finger coral

Comments (by A.Faucci): Great draft, just needs some organizing, formatting and polishing. Also make sure that each sentence is linked to a reference. For more detailed comments see below each section.

''-> Comment by Anuschka: Nice work cleaning it up. I just italicized your scientific species. Also, if you use Hawaiian diacritical, use them everywhere.''

Lead
Porites duerdeni, also called thick or knobby finger coral, is a species of coral endemic to Hawai’i belonging to the family Poritidae representing stony corals.

Distribution & Habitat
Porites duerdeni is an extremely rare species of colonial reef building finger coral found almost exclusively in Kāne‘ohe Bay, O’ahu. It can be most abundantly found in shallow waters typically ranging from depths of 3-6ft but can also be found at greater depths that still receive significant sunlight.

Description
Porites duerdeni is a colonial coral and is typically light brown, cream, yellowish, or light green in color with short knub/spherical like branches. Porites duerdeni can be distinctly identified from closely related species by their septa composed of inwardly inclined trabeculae.

Growth
Porites duerdeni growth averages 1-2 cm a year.

Conservation
Porites duerdeni faced severe impacts due to bleaching events in 2015 and 2016, however a small team from the DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources has been working to curb extinction by planting nursery grown P. duerdeni on the reefs of Kāne‘ohe Bay, O’ahu. Porites duerdeni is much more susceptible to coral bleaching than common and dominate corals found in Hawaii.

Cultural Significance
Hard and Stony Corals were commonly used tools for canoe building and acted as general abrasives used by Native Hawaiians.

-> Comment by Anuschka: I would leave this out as it is not species specific.