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»Rugae« und Wachstumszonen bei Korallen

Rugae and growth zones of corals

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Abstract

Rugae are more or less horizontal, fine ridges of the epitheca of corals. Therefore, they are rare in modern scleractinia who seldom have an epitheca. Following the studies ofBarnes (1972) the rugae are a sign for the daily increment of the sceleton. Besides the rugae there are also other zones of growth. They are shown by the radiography as an alternation of dark and light bands. This zones of different density are interpreted as a seasonal change of zones of different thickness (? and arrangement) of trabeculae. It seems possible that there is also a monthly rhythm of the growth the causes of which are unknown.

In rugosa there are rugae in solitary corallits as well as in colonial corallums. The rugae of the cerioid specimen of “Columniphyllum” sulcatum described byQuenstedt 1879 have a width up to 0.3 mm. In spite of this unusually width it seems probable that these rugae are also the product of the daily increment.

The difficulties of interpretation, identification and combination of rugae in determined time periods are great handicaps for their use as “geochronometric clocks”. But with more knowledge about the growth of recent corals in regard to the diverse factors of the environment, the rugae would be a possible important feature for palecologic evidences.

Zusammenfassung

Rugae stellen ± horizontale Querwülste der Epitheka von Korallen dar. Bei rezenten Scleractinia finden sie sich zufolge weitgehenden Fehlens einer Epitheka selten. Soweit bekannt, handelt es sich um tägliche Zuwachszonen. Daneben treten bei rezenten Scleractinia als Wachstumszonen Bänder unterschiedlichen Raumgewichts, erkennbar in der Radiographic, auf. Sie dürften mit verschiedener Trabekeldicke bzw. (?)-Anordnung zusammenhängen und entstehen durch periodisch schwankenden Jahreszuwachs. Möglicherweise können ein Teil dieser Bänder auch auf Monatsrhythmik unbekannter Ursache zurückgehen.

Auch bei cerioiden Rugosa treten Rugae auf. BeiColumnaria sulcata beträgt ihre Breite bis 0,3 mm und liegt damit wesentlich über der Normalbreite. Auch derartig breite Rugae müssen als Tageszuwachs gedeutet werden.

Die Verwendung von Rugae für chronometrische Untersuchungen stößt auf die Schwierigkeiten ihrer Deutung, ihrer Erkennung und ihrer Zuordnung zu Zeitperioden höherer Ordnung. Eine bessere Kenntnis des Wachstumsverhaltens rezenter Scleractinia in Hinblick auf Umweltsfaktoren könnte die Rugae zu wichtigen Merkmalen für palökologische Aussagen machen.

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  1. Institut für Geologie und Paläontologie der Universität, Heinrichstraße 26, A 8010, Graz, Österreich

    Helmut W. Flügel

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Flügel, H.W. »Rugae« und Wachstumszonen bei Korallen. Paläont. Z. 51, 117–130 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02986605

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