Hammer Coral

The anchor coral is widespread throughout the tropical waters of the Indo-West Pacific area from the Maldives to the Salomon Islands with a large presence in Indonesia. It is common in some areas, but it faces several threats that have reduced its overall population. Its coral reef habitat is also degraded and destroyed in many areas.

Euphyllia ancora is a gonochoristic, and spawns in late spring in Taiwan via external fertilization. As Twan has stated, E. ancora has been found to mass spawn They form new colonies from tentacle tips which have broken free of parent colonies. Major nights of spawning occur on the 3rd and 6th nights after a full moon during a period of neap tides.

As mentioned before, Euphyllia ancora is gonochoristic. Cleavage begins at the site of the polar body release within 1 or 2 hours after fertilization. The first cell division happens soon after which results in equal or unequal sized blastomeres. Embryos soon after develop into a hollow blastula which flattens out to form a concave dish which then thickens, and redevelops into a spheroidal form. Embryogenesis involves partial differentiation of the outer epidermis and the formation of cilia leading to the development of an early planula stage. The planulae is now formed. An oral pore and pharynx form by invagination of the ectoderm 24 hours after fertilization. Ep (another novel yolk protein) was also found in to be E. ancora. Vg and Ep were found to be produced in the ovarian somatic cells adjacent to oocytes. To this date, no other yolk proteins have been found in cnidarians.

Sea temperature in the tropics have increased by almost 1°C over the past 100 years and are currently increasing at the rate of 1–2°C per century. Zooxanthelle corals live close to the upper limit of thermal tolerance and become stressed if exposed to temperatures 1–2°C above normal. If stressed, corals expel their zoothanthellae and turn white - they 'bleach'. Conservation is a really easy and beneficial way to save coral reefs. Coral reefs are sometimes surrounded around poor countries/islands. Scuba and snorkeling activities for tourists are a great way to earn revenue. Like well managed tourist industries, these activities have little or no environmental impact and as they represent an eternally renewable source of income, they are likely to be important in the quest for effective management practices that lead to long-term conservation.