Kopierade en text jag hittade på Reef Central i min jakt efter info om asymbiotiska gorgonier. Corals tested: Dendronephthya hemprichi, Dendronephthya sinaiensis, Scelronephtya carymbosa, Acabaria sp. -highly significant downstream depletion of phytoplankton ( 6.4% of the total phytoplankton in the water removed by a single colony) - flow dependant capture and growth of colony, with highest rates between 12 and 30 cm/sec (not necessarily laminar) and flow rates less than 10cm/sec causing poor expansion and low per polyp particle interception. - highest polyp biomass increase at 12-17cm/sec and highest phytoplankton intake at 15-18 cm/sec. -clearance rate and efficiency (even at suboptimal flow rates) up to 4.5% at 8-10 cm/sec and thus each polyp could clear 2.8l of seawater of phytoplankton at 0.25 mgChla/cubic meter of seawater) per day. So, basically, if you have a colony with 100 polyps ( a small colony), and phytoplankton concentrations equivalent to NSW, the colony would clear all the phytoplankton out of a 55-75 gallon tank each day....and 100 polyps is about a 2-3 inch branch. Branchlets in the experiement removed from colonies had about 30 polyps. -high concentrations of phytoplankton (several hundred per polyp) from 3-20 microns in size in flow exposed sites - low concentrations of cyanobacteria and particles less than 3 microns - all four taxa indicated a strong selection (preference) of eukaryotes (phytoplankton) -phytoplankton provides between 130 and 250 % of their daily required intake of carbon. - very little animal prey in polyps - average of <0.02 items per polyp. In closed system test at 5cm/sec flow rate and 200 zooplankton items/liter, encounter rates were 3-4 orders of magnitude higher and zooplankton items found in the gut (small or slow swimming organisms). After two hours in concentrated zooplankton, polyps contained an average of 1.1 prey items per polyp. - other soft corals (Sinularia (2 species), Sarcophyton (3 species), Cladiella sp., Nephthea sp., Paralemnalia sp, and 12 of the most common symbiotic soft coral genera on the GBR also were unable to feed significantly on zooplankton (other studies show otherwise for Sarcophyton and Sinularia, but different species?) -pinnule spacing is 45-55 micons in D. hemprichi and gaps are 60-80 microns. - phytoplankton: zooplankton carbon ingestion ratio was from 1: 0.02 to 1:0.005. - all animal prey items (including eggs, etc.) account for 2.5-3.4% of carbon in contrast to the 130-250% from phytoplantkon