Hi! I'm called Coralgirl because I LOVE CORALS and this is my page
dedicated to coral reefs. The coral reefs of the world are
one of the most beautiful, exotic, and
ecologically diverse habitats on Earth.
Unfortunately, because of these qualities coral reefs attrack the attention of the greatest ecological threat to our planet, namely humanity itself. The purpose of this page is to briefly introduce the general reader to the wonder and beauty of the reefs and hope to add to the efforts being made to conserve and protect a precious resource.
It is true when they say that life is stranger than fiction, as corals and coral reefs can attest too. Corals are unique because although they resemble a plant they are, in actuality, an animal. But even stranger, within this tiny animal lives a tiny plant that feeds the coral and feeds from the coral also.
The coral, or polyp, is a tubal-shaped animal that needs the same sustances that other animals need to survive. It needs food, oxygen, and water, but unlike other animals the coral gets its needs met in a passive, give-and-take relationship(referred to as symbiosis) with a tiny plant, called a zooxanthellae(a single-celled algae).
This relationship is brought about in a unusal method; the zooxanthellae lives within the polyp, and the polyp lives between land's edge and the sea. The zooxanthellae then uses the sunlight; which reaches the polyp thru the water, to photosynthesize and produce oxygen and waste products. The polyp uses this oxygen to breath by and some of the waste product from the zooxanthellae supplements its food needs. The polyp in turn gives off carbon dioxide; as all breathing creatures do, and the zooxanthellae uses this to convert sunlight to oxygen for the polyp.
Thus, the relationship between the two is clear, the two have evolved into a relationship that means death without one or the other. For the environmental conditions in which they live requires them to coexist to survive. But how does these two tiny creatures form the beautiful corals that are found in the Earth's oceans? When the polyp and the zooxanthellae interact in their survival dance, the polyp gets rid of a substance called calcium carbonate, or limestone, which in turns forms a foundation on which other polyps attach themselves. These polyps, living together, form what we call corals. The coral then attaches itself to other corals and form the reefs that inspire, tantalize, and fascinate many humans and form the home for one of the most vast and exotic collection of plants and animals on our planet.
Reefs then are a large colony of polyps and zooxanthellae that attach itself to the sea floor through the formation of a foundation from the waste of the two creatures. Some other important facts about these creatures are that the zooxanthellae need sunlight to photosynthesize and the coral can only exist in a specific water temperature. These reasons combined with the slow growth rate of a coral colony and reef mean that the coral reefs are very sensitive to slight changes in their environment and can be easily destroyed by these changes.
That is what this page is about the fragileness of the reefs and their position is geographical ecology has brought many coral reefs to the edge of extinction as they not only occupy space an ever growing human population chooses to inhabit. Also because of the unique lifeforms that live in the reefs, humans hunt and seek to plunder the reefs for food and medicine and to use the reefs as a dumping ground for their waste. All of these reasons destroy not only the sea in which corals live but also kill the corals that form the reefs.
This is only a brief description of what corals are and a brief talk of the problems that face the coral reefs. For any one interested below is a list of other coral reef links on the reef. Enjoy!!!
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