在过去的几十年中一简单的动物，但本身就是一个整体生态系统。我们保存在水族馆中的孤独和殖民地珊瑚物种主要是光合作用的，藻类生活在其细胞内部，但是还有其他整个生物小动物和微生物与我们的珊瑚生活在一起。
生物与珊瑚范围相关的列表from the tiny that live on the surface, macro invertebrates such as mussels and crabs that live in the skeleton or among the branches, not to mention a whole suite of pests and parasites that makes our reef lives such a pain. Over the years we’ve documented a wide range of uninvited coral critters includingc省，，，，螃蟹，，，，ciliates，，，，氢气，，，，蜗牛，，，，nudibranch，，，，flatworms- 其中许多在一组珊瑚上最常见。
但是一项新的研究发表在水产养殖的评论titled “Parasites and coral-associated invertebrates that impact coral health” is a pretty comprehensive review of things that live on our corals, and how corals feel about it. The paper is a pretty hefty read and probably not very enlightening for the casual hobbyist, but any professional coral handler and especially the coral farmers should really make time to at least give it a glance.
我们的“最喜欢”的珊瑚寄生虫之一让我们想起了一种称为trematode的扁虫porites珊瑚产生明亮的粉红色颠簸和结节。我们尚未归因于任何特定目的，仍然有很多珊瑚的“疾病”珊瑚不仅是无缘无故死亡或遭受痛苦的，但是即使我们经验最丰富的人也因不追踪每个原因而感到内gui。
