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Appearing as solitary forms in the fossil record more than 400 million years ago, corals are extremely ancient animals that evolved into modern reef-building forms over the last 25 million years. Large wave resistant structures of reef have accumulated from the slow growth of corals. Coral reefs are the largest structures on earth of biological origin. They are the most diverse and beautiful of all marine habitats. The development of reef is aided by algae that are symbiotic with reef-building corals, known as Zooxanthellae. Coralline algae, sponges and other organisms, combined with a number of cementation processes also contribute to reef growth. Corals and coralline algae precipitate calcium carbonate, whereas the framework-building sponges may also precipitate silica. Most of these organisms are colonial, and the slow process of precipitation moves the living surface layer of the reef upward and seaward. The reef is topographically complex. Much like a rain forest, it has many strata and areas of strong shade, cast by the over towering coral colonies. Because of the complexity, thousands of species of fish and invertebrates live in association with reefs, which are by far our richest marine habitats. Of all ocean habitats, reefs seem to have the greatest development of complex symbiotic associations.
I. Introduction
1. Classification
2. Fossil history
3. Geographical distribution
4. Growth of corals
5. Structure of coral reefs
6. Importance of coral reefs
II. Methods
1. Image processing state (I)
2. Field survey
3. Data analysis
4. Image processing state (II)
III. Results
1. Terrestrial biotopes of the Andaman Islands
2. Marine biotopes of the Andaman Islands
3. Site description
4. Diversity of corals
5. Pre-Tsunami status of corals
6. Post-Tsunami status of corals
7. Status of new coral recruits
IV. Discussion: Threats to coral reefs of Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Management strategies
Summary
Acknowledgements
References
