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Basics:
When you have clipped the branch of the coral you will be studying, soak it in bleach for 12-24 hours to strip the tissue. Helpful equipment to have includes a "dissection" microscope with at least 25X magnification. The scope ideally should have a tray adjustable in 3 axis, because once you get the coral branch under the scope, its hard to get the right position of the corallites without clamping or propping. It should also have a multi-directional illumination with intensity control to for different lighting depending on where you are looking.
A camera adaptor for the scope is a wonderful tool to share and document the progress made. Many of these items sound expensive but can be found used often for under a few hundred dollars.
Calipers are very helpful to measure the corallites, but may be too large for measuring anything except the outer diameter on the axials. A digital caliper that can measure to 10ths of mm and the appropriate tips is what I need. The scale bar in a scope lens also comes in handy.

• step 1 is to try and assign a growth form to your specimen, if it can be done. If it has multiple characters, list them all. See the main page for growth form list/description.
  
• Examine your colony or branch and determine where the axials are, where the radials are, and where the coenosteum is. Also, if using a branch, see if you can determine if there are axials corallites that are incipient. Axials along branches may be in the process of forming from radials.
  
• Examine the axial corallites.
  These characters of your axial corallites should be written down. Also important is to take measurements.
  You will need to know:
  • Outer diameter of the axial corallite (outer wall to outer wall)
    
  • Inner diameter (from inner wall to inner wall - basically across the void into which the septa penetrate).
    
  • Use a millimeter scale or calipers to determine these measurements.
  • Take a measurement of several axials and take the mean of them. There can be considerable variation in them across a colony. Alternately, you could measure the smallest fully developed axial and the largest, and this would be the range of diameters.
    
• Examine the radial corallites.
  
• Look at the coenosteal features.
  
• Use the keys to break down our specimen into subgroups, then use a systematics key to try and determine the species.
  

Radial Corallites:

• Determine how many basic types of radial corallites exist on your colony
  
• Assess the angle - see if any gaps exist completely around the corallite, or if part of the corallite touches and remains connected with the rest of the corallum (appressed)
  
• Determine the opening shape
  
• Detemine the corallite shape
  
• Measure the average corallite length, outer and inner diameter
  
• Assess the septa as with the axials (how many, in how many cycles, and the degree as an approximate percentage of the radius with which they project into the opening).
  

This page updated last on December 12, 2006.

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