All About Coral Reefs
Imagine that you go to the beach today. It is fun. Now swim deep into the ocean. What do you find? You may have found coral reefs. What are coral reefs? Well, let’s dive in…
Image by Wikimedia Commons. CC:BY
Coral Reefs
A coral reef is an animal. It looks like a plant, but it is an ecosystem consisting of many corals. Corals do look like plants called algae. Corals are parts of a group of animals called cnidarians. Cnidarians include sea anemones and jellyfish. Cnidarians have stinging tentacles and radial symmetry.
Let’s talk about the coral reef’s life cycle. Coral reefs are eggs first. Then they hatch as larva. After they are settled, they are polyps. Polyps have bases that grow. When they are done growing, they turn into adults. It could take 1,000-1 million years for an entire coral reef to form. Coral reefs are home to many sea animals. Some famous coral reefs include the Great Barrier Reef, and some reefs of the Caribbean, Maldives, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Coral reefs (except for deep sea corals) need a kind of algae called zooxanthellae. Zooxanthellae give coral reefs food and oxygen. Zooxanthellae also gives them nice color. Deep sea corals do not need zooxanthellae because there is no sunlight. So, they just eat plankton.
Save the Coral Reefs
Scientists think that 90% of coral reefs will be gone by 2050. Coral reefs are very sensitive to even slight changes in temperature. When ocean temperatures rise, corals can bleach. Other problems they face are ocean acidification. So, we must act.
Ocean acidification
Ocean acidification happens when the ocean absorbs more carbon dioxide. Then carbon dioxide bonds with carbonate to form bicarbonate. That leaves less carbonate for calcium to bond to. Since shells need calcium carbonate, this can lead to thin and weak shells. This can affect coral reefs. Since they need calcium carbonate, the coral reefs will be damaged.
Coral bleaching
Coral bleaching happens when the water temperature changes, and the zooxanthellae are kicked out. Since coral reefs need zooxanthellae, they will not be healthy. They will lose color. They can also die if it does not go back to normal. Bleached corals are not dead, but they can take a long time to recover.