page_title: Corallivore
section_title: Impacts on ecosystem
hierarchical_section_title: Corallivore / Impacts on ecosystem
caption_attribution_description: English: Feeding aggregation of Drupella rugosa snails on Acropora branching corals on the island of Koh Tao, Thailand.
context_page_description: A corallivore is an animal that feeds on coral. Corallivores are an important group of reef organism because they can influence coral abundance, distribution, and community structure. Corallivores feed on coral using a variety of unique adaptations and strategies. Animals known to be corallivores include certain mollusks, annelids, fish, crustaceans, flatworms and echinoderms. The first recorded evidence of corallivory was presented by Charles Darwin in 1842 during his voyage on HMS Beagle in which he found coral in the stomach of two Scarus parrotfish.
context_section_description: Corallivory often results in damage to coral or loss of coral biomass, and sometime directly causes coral death. Corals divert energy and resources towards repairing damage, which has shown to suppress additional growth. The ability for a coral to repair itself is partially based on the size of the lesion; since not all damage can be healed, superfluous damage can result in permanent change to the reef. Corals have shown to energetically prioritize repairing damage over reproducing, so corallivory can have a negative effect on coral reproduction. Additionally, studies have shown that grazing by corallivores can be associated with reduced zooxanthellae densities.
  Scientists believe that excessive fishing of predators to corallivores, like large piscivorous fish, may result in an increase in corallivore abundance. This increase in corallivory may have a future negative effect on coral health and density.
  Corallivory can indirectly cause an increase in growth of competitive organisms, such as algae and sponges. Additionally, some corallivores have been implicated in the spread of coral diseases. Some studies have shown that corallivores can have an influence on the competitive abilities of coral colonies.
  Corallivory is not always detrimental to coral reefs. If the species of coral being consumed is spatially dominant, grazing can help control growth and promote greater reef diversity.
  Corallivores are often sensitive to declines in coral health and population size, and are negatively affected during periods of high coral loss. In particular, obligate corallivores have been reported to experience high population declines following instances of coral loss. Studies have shown that corallivores suffer during bleaching events, suggesting that bleached coral is not as nutritional as healthy coral. Scientific investigation into the nutritional value of healthy and bleached coral is lacking. However, it has been determined that the disparity in nutritional value is not related to the concentration of zooxanthellae.
caption: Group of Drupella snails feeding on Acropora in Thailand.
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