Friday, November 23, 2018

Scleractinia 3D Model

This is a 3D model of scleractinia (hard coral) which I built using Tinkercad software.  Scleractina produce calcium carbonate skeletons, which is what coral reefs are built out of.  

Anatomical features are labelled in the first two images.  One polyp is shown with a cutaway of part of the corallite so the polyp and septa are more visible.

My model is an example of a scleractinia colony, showing two polyps.  Each polyp in an individual organism, but they live together in a colony.  

Corallites are the calcium carbonate skeletons that each polyp creates.  Each corallite has separate walls.  Inside the corallite there are ridges called septa.  Each septum is sandwiched between two layers of mesentery tissue, which secrete the calcium carbonate that forms the skeleton of the coral.

Polyps are joined together by a layer of living tissue called the the coenosarc, which covers the coenosteum (skeletal tissue which connects the corallites).





Here is a video of me showing the model in 3D:


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