Coral (Reefs)

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by Nobodygetsthefleece

by Nobodygetsthefleece

A/N: 'Kay... I know I hadn't published anything in a while... and for that, I apologize. I just have a lot of things going on right now.
Anyway... 😀

Coral reefs are gorgeous, aren't they? Fun fact, their purpose isn't just to fill the oceans and seas with beauty.

Coral reefs are intricate and diverse collections of species that interact with each other and the physical environment. They are a class of colonial animal that is related to hydroids, jellyfish, and sea anemones.

   While many of them are hard like rocks, not all corals on the reef are stony corals.
   Here are three interesting types of soft coral:
   ● Hydrocorals, aka "fire coral," are reef-building hydroids that have a hard calcareous exoskeleton (=the hard stuff that provides protection to the organisms), and stinging cells that can cause a burning sensation when touched.
   ● Octocorals, or 'soft' corals, include sea fans and sea whips, which grow more like fleshy plants, and do not form calcium carbonate (=basically, the chemical compound that is the major constituent of limestone, marble, eggshells, etc. etc. and corals) skeletal structures.
   ● Antipatharians, otherwise known as "black corals" are another type of branching 'soft' coral.
   Some soft corals have zooxanthellae (=algae, in short) to acquire food and energy. Others, such as black corals, exist without this symbiotic relationship. (Why did my brain immediately go to Eddie and Venom while writing this?)

You might be wondering why coral reefs are so important... and I can tell you that there are many reasons as to why they vital to our existance.
Coral reefs hold enormous ecological, economic, and cultural value to hundreds of millions of people around the world. They provide valuable ecosystem services, including nutrition, economic security, and protection from natural disasters. Coral reefs are among the most biologically diverse and valuable ecosystems on Earth. An estimated 25% of all marine life including over 4,000 species of fish, are idependent on coral reefs at some point in their life cycle.

Healthy coral reefs provide:
   ● Habitat, feeding, spawning, and nursery grounds for over 1 million aquatic species.
   ● Food for people living near coral reefs, especially on small islands.
   ● Protection of coastal infrastructure and prevention of loss of life from storms, tsunamis, floods, and erosion.
   ● Sources of new medicines that can be used to treat diseases and other health problems.

There are so many other amazing and wonderful reasons as to why corals are vital to our world. I'm not going to write them all, because each one of these chapters is supposed to be relatively short... So, if you want to learn more about coral reefs, I suggest you look it up. It really is one of the most interesting topics in biology (at least in my opinion :) ).

I hope you take my advice on searching and learning more about coral reefs. I also hope that this was interesting 😄

Bye <3
-Harmony ⚘️