Corals

The diversity and abundance of corals on hardbottom reefs in the Apalachee Bay does not match those seen in the Caribbean or other more tropical locations, however, many types of corals do make their home in the bay. The body of coral is made of hard limestone in which soft bodied coral polyps live. Corals are not filter feeds, but instead are considered suspension feeders. This means that they make their living through symbiotic connections that they form with photosynthetic zooxanthellae algae that share its structure and also by using its tentacles to capture small prey. A sediment-tolerant species, the tube coral (Cladocora arbuscula) is the most prominent of the corals found in the bay.