Coral Reefs
A coral (disambiguation) reef is a community of living organisms. It is made up of plants, fish, and plenty other creatures. When I think of coral reefs I think of neon colors, and beautiful colorful dancing plants of the sea. Coral reefs are a submerged structure made up of many different corals, or small marine invertebrates. Coral reefs are some of the diverse ecosystems in the world. Twenty-five percent of all marine life is actually home to it. Coral reefs have said to be the foundation for many marine species. They are also a crucial support for human life. Coral reefs have been around for millions of years. About 0.1% of the ocean floor is covered by coral reefs. Coral reefs are the homes of many species including crabs, …show more content…
Believe it or not each coral reef stands for something, and is not just a “plant” or “animal” living in the ocean. Coral reefs are made up of tiny animals that called “polyps” that stay fixed in one place and are the main structure of a reef. Polyps have a hard outer skeleton made of calcium (similar to a snails shell). Polyp is connected by living tissue that forms a community. Coral reefs may vary in size, type, and location around the world but are very sensitive to water properties like temperature, and chemical composition. The top layer is of a coral reef contains living polyp. When new layers of the coral reef are built, the polyps then the leave the lower layers. Each polyp has a ring of tentacles shaped like a cup around a central opening. The tentacles have stinging cells, called nematocysts, which allow the coral polyp to capture small organisms that swim too close. Nearly half or I’d rather say all of the worlds coral reefs, are in the tropics. How beautiful does that sound? Coral reefs are also important to us (humans). The value of coral reefs has been estimated at 30 billion U.S. dollars and as much as 172 billion dollars each year, providing food, protection of shorelines, and jobs based on tourism and …show more content…
This reef is made up of over 2,900 individual reef and 900 islands. Now that’s huge! Its stretches over 2600 kilometers off the northeast coast of Australia. There are 10 main coral reefs that are very large in size besides the reef I already mentioned. I already spoke of the biggest one which is the Great Barrier Reef (Australia). There’s the Red Sea Coral Reef (Red Sea near Israel, Egypt and Djibouti), New Caledonia Barrier Reef (Pacific ocean near New Caledonia, The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef (Atlantic Ocean near Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras), Florida Reef (Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico near Florida), Andros Coral Reef (Bahamas), Saya Del Maha (Indian Ocean), Great Changos bank (The Maldives), and the Reed Bank (South China Sea, claimed by the
A coral (disambiguation) reef is a community of living organisms. It is made up of plants, fish, and plenty other creatures. When I think of coral reefs I think of neon colors, and beautiful colorful dancing plants of the sea. Coral reefs are a submerged structure made up of many different corals, or small marine invertebrates. Coral reefs are some of the diverse ecosystems in the world. Twenty-five percent of all marine life is actually home to it. Coral reefs have said to be the foundation for many marine species. They are also a crucial support for human life. Coral reefs have been around for millions of years. About 0.1% of the ocean floor is covered by coral reefs. Coral reefs are the homes of many species including crabs, …show more content…
Believe it or not each coral reef stands for something, and is not just a “plant” or “animal” living in the ocean. Coral reefs are made up of tiny animals that called “polyps” that stay fixed in one place and are the main structure of a reef. Polyps have a hard outer skeleton made of calcium (similar to a snails shell). Polyp is connected by living tissue that forms a community. Coral reefs may vary in size, type, and location around the world but are very sensitive to water properties like temperature, and chemical composition. The top layer is of a coral reef contains living polyp. When new layers of the coral reef are built, the polyps then the leave the lower layers. Each polyp has a ring of tentacles shaped like a cup around a central opening. The tentacles have stinging cells, called nematocysts, which allow the coral polyp to capture small organisms that swim too close. Nearly half or I’d rather say all of the worlds coral reefs, are in the tropics. How beautiful does that sound? Coral reefs are also important to us (humans). The value of coral reefs has been estimated at 30 billion U.S. dollars and as much as 172 billion dollars each year, providing food, protection of shorelines, and jobs based on tourism and …show more content…
This reef is made up of over 2,900 individual reef and 900 islands. Now that’s huge! Its stretches over 2600 kilometers off the northeast coast of Australia. There are 10 main coral reefs that are very large in size besides the reef I already mentioned. I already spoke of the biggest one which is the Great Barrier Reef (Australia). There’s the Red Sea Coral Reef (Red Sea near Israel, Egypt and Djibouti), New Caledonia Barrier Reef (Pacific ocean near New Caledonia, The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef (Atlantic Ocean near Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras), Florida Reef (Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico near Florida), Andros Coral Reef (Bahamas), Saya Del Maha (Indian Ocean), Great Changos bank (The Maldives), and the Reed Bank (South China Sea, claimed by the