Group+4A

8/8 Neatness/Organization 6/8 Introduction-No refs for info? 5/8 Procedure-Details? 6/8 Data- Labels? 8/8 Conclusion 33/40 Total

**Scientific Name**: //**Clavularia viridis**// ** Classification ** : **Soft Coral** **Common Names:** **Green Star Polyps**
= Our Experiment: =

our experiment will be to see if the amount of light effects the growth of a green star polyp. to do this we will glew down green star polyps to little pieces of cement and place one in to a tank that has a light and another that gets a half as much light then one that has no litghts at all. we will have two at each of these spots so that we can get better readings. we will check and mesaure them and count the polyps every couple of days.

=Green Star polyps:= are small bright green polyps connected together by a rubbery purple colored mat. Open during the day, retracted at night or when disturbed. Because the green star is very hardy, it can survive bountifully in most tank environment. It survives the best when there is moderate wave motion and between 74 and 84 degrees. Once its found a healthy environment, the green star polyp will grow over pretty much anything everything. To trim them, you can just use a pair of scissors. Because they are photogenic, they can create their own food. They don’t need food or any special treatment except to keep them out of forceful water flow.

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3&4. Under Crate with less light 5&6. Dark**
 * 1&2. On top of crate with light


 * || **10/9/09** || **10/15/09** || **10/19/09** ||
 * **1** || **20** || **25** || **23** ||
 * **2** || **19** || **23** || **26** ||
 * **3** || **13** || **12(one polyp starting to grow)** || **16** ||
 * **4** || **15** || **14** || **25** ||
 * **5** || **18** || **28** || **24** ||
 * **6** || **12** || **24** || **18 (it turned darker)** ||

(the corals died and didn't grow so our group restarted the corals again.) =Final Experiment=

Our second try at the experiment also resulted in death. Coral 2 and 3 had fallen off of the concrete slabs provide so we assumed they were MIA and KIA. Coral 5 was missing as well but instead of glue remaining on the slabs, the entire thing was gone. This can probably be blamed on the strength of the slab. When attaching coral 6, too much glue was put on but went un-noticed do to the fact that when wet, the glue is almost invisible. The glue covered all of the polyp and resulted in its death. coral 1 and 4 had perfect conditions to live under, but coral 1 gradually turned green and died over the course of 4 weeks. Even though the data is said that coral 4 survived, it began to decay and turn green around the sides of it. The reason it wasn't pronounced dead was the fact that the area around the polyp was healthy. This experiment was a failure but the data can still be used. The 2 polyps that survived can tell us not about the light in which we were testing, but about what may have caused their deaths. The reason they died is not confirmed but many hypothesises can be brought up. They were raised in the same tank, which mean the same thing could have killed both corals. It could either be from an unknown toxin in the water or the lack of nutrients needed to survive. On [|www.peteducation.com], it says that an experience colonist can cut and glue them, so our inexperiencness could have killed them as well. The coral had no predators but during one incident I had to remove a bridge off the corals because the black urchin had knocked it over. The urchin could have also blocked the corals' sunlight. The urchin's spine was also very poisoness, there for accidentally poisoning the coral.
 * || 11/3 || 11/10 || 11/17 || 11/24 || 11/30 || 12/10 ||  ||
 * 1 || 7 || 7 || 7 || 3 || dead || dead ||  ||
 * 2 || 11 || 11 || 11 || dead || dead || dead ||  ||
 * 3 || 13 || 13 || 13 || dead || dead || dead ||  ||
 * 4 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 ||  ||
 * 5 || 11 || 11 || 11 || dead || dead || dead ||  ||
 * 6 || 13 || 13 || 13 || dead || dead || dead ||  ||