Synchronizeourwatches

Tube anemones, like the one picture here, may look like coral but actually have far more in common with jelly fish. Anemones don't produce skeletons like most common reef building corals and this Cerianthus sp uses its tube like foot to bury itself into a sandy substrate, where it then will hunt for small fish and invertebrates that float on by.

Carnivorous by nature, ancora's or "hammer" corals use their tentacles to feed from the water column. They have extremely powerful nematocysts that can stun prey and draw it towards its mouth. They can devourer entire fish, shrimp and similar sized invertebrates but mostly feed on Zooplankton.

The Outer Reef Crest on Heron Island.

Dominated by an incredible amount of clean water, high energy, high light loving Acropora sp, this reef crest encompasses almost the entire outline of heron reef and is the beginnings of what will, one day be, the inner reef lagoons substrata.

Acropora such as these are incredibly sensitive to heavy metals, high organics and increases in turbid waters that surround our reefs. All these stressors are caused by farming and everyday pollution. When these increase (not by much either only e.g: 0.003 ppm* phosphate) they are often the first to die off.

This is why they are now only found in abundance on outer reef slopes and    surrounding isolated islands as they no longer exist on inner fringing reefs.

Heron Island.