Producers

Producers are the base of the food chain and are very important because all of the energy in the community flows from them. On coral reefs there are three major types of producers:

 Cyanobactera or blue-green algae

These species also fix nitrogen and  enhance nutrient availability

 Seaweeds

These include both conspicuous macro-algae and the less conspicuous but very abundant turf algae. Seaweeds are heavily grazed by herbivores 

 Reef-building or hematypic corals

Corals are producers due to tiny plants that live inside their bodies called zooxanthellae