Soft corals of the family Xeniidae are a subset of octocorals that actively pulse their tentacles. Evidence indicates that the pulsing helps facilitate photosynthesis and
decreases photorespiration of the symbiotic algae that live on the corals. One way to investigate this complex behavior of pulsing is through mathematical modeling and
numerical simulations. This presentation will be an overview of numerical methods for modeling the coral motion and the resulting fluid flow, and then we couple the
resulting flow with advection and diffusion of a concentration, since these play a role in photosynthesis and photorespiration.

Coffee, Tea, and Cookies!