Water Quality/Marine and Estuary Macroorganism List

Marine and Estuary Species

“Marine and Estuary” water quality topic has indicator organisms for the macroorganism list in the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 seasons. These organisms are broken up into three categories: organisms found in Indo-Pacific region only, organisms found in Atlantic region only, and organisms found everywhere.

Example table:

Importance as Indicators	Ecology	Life Cycle	Feeding Habits	Extra Information
Things that are shown about the quality of water by the presence or absence of the organism	General ecology information	Information about immature and adult forms of organism	(Carnivore/Herbivore/Omnivore)-more information	important information about organism not listed in other charts. Not required for all organisms

Banded Coral Shrimp (Stenopus hispidus)

Importance as Indicators	Ecology	Life Cycle	Feeding Habits	Extra Information
The banded coral shrimp is an indicator organism for aquarium fish collecting.	The banded coral shrimp removes/consumes rejected food particles from certain organisms with its 3 pairs of claws.	9 larval stages, eggs hatch after 16 days of laying. The male form of the banded coral shrimp is larger than the female (sexual dimorphism).	Primarily a carnivore; eats invertebrates such as zooplankton along with the things cleaned off organisms.

Crown of Thorns Starfish (Acanthaster placi)

Importance as Indicators	Ecology	Life Cycle	Feeding Habits	Extra Information
The crown of thorns starfish is an indicator for overfishing.	Helpful to reef health because it eats fast growing coral (slower growing can compete). Hurtful to reef health because infestations can cause major reef damage. Not territorial. Uses toxins called asterosaponins to protect self.	Releases chemicals and spawns. Eggs develop into planktonic larvae which eat larvae when going through three stages. larvae settle on a hard surface an d morphs into a juvenile starfish.	Eat a lot of coral.	BAd

Butterfly Fish (Chaetodon spp)

Importance as Indicators	Ecology	Life Cycle	Feeding Habits	Extra Information
The butterfly fish is a marine indicator for overfishing, poison fishing, and aquarium fish collecting.	Butterfly fish have bright colors during the day that blend in at night. Some act as cleaner fish.	Pelagic spawners; release buoyant eggs in the water which become part of plankton, floating with the currents before hatching. They go through the tholichthys stage, part of the postlarval fish is covered in large, bony plates. They lose the plates as they mature. Lifespan is 7-10years.	Diurnal; feed on plankton, coral, sea anemones, and small crustaceans.	none yet!