Life History & Behaviour

Favia corals can reproduce either by asexual ways or by sexual. As the colony is growing in size the polyps are constantly reproducing by cloning. But it can also during certain times of the year release eggs and sperm on the water column in massive spawns. If the fertilized eggs is lucky it will float for a 1-2 days and the larvae will hatch and staying the plankton for few days until settle in a suitable place and a new colony starts to grow.

                Even though corals are not mobile as adults they live in a constant battle for life in the reefs. There is always a war for space in place like a coral reef. So corals need to have defenses against other organisms, this can be against predation or simply for the space. Their defenses can be their cnidocytes, which are cells exclusives from cnidarians that can deliver a sting to anything that touches it, or chemical defenses, that might inhibit the growth of other sessile organisms near it.