Coral Reefs

1. What are Coral Reefs?

→ Coral reefs are massive structures made of limestone deposited by living things. Although thousands of species inhabit
coral reefs, only a fraction produces the limestone that builds the reef. The most important reef-building organisms are the corals.
3 Principal REEF Types
• Fringing Reef → a reef that is directly attached to a shore or borders it with an intervening shallow channel or lagoon.
• Barrier Reef → a reef separated from a mainland or island shore by a deep lagoon.
• Atoll Reef →a more or less circular or continuous barrier reef extending all the way around a lagoon without a central island.
Other reef types or variants are:
• Patch reef - an isolated, comparatively small reef outcrop, usually within a lagoon or embayment, often circular and
surrounded by sand or sea grass. Patch reefs are common.
• Apron reef - a short reef resembling a fringing reef, but more sloped; extending out and downward from a point or peninsular
shore.
• Bank reef - a linear or semi-circular shaped-outline, larger than a patch reef
• Ribbon reef - a long, narrow, somewhat winding reef, usually associated with an atoll lagoon.
• Table reef – an isolated reef, approaching an atoll type, but without a lagoon.
Principal coral reefs and reef areas of the world
• Great Barrier Reef - largest coral reef system in the world, Queensland, Australia.
• Belize Barrier Reef - second largest in the world, stretching from southern Quintana Roo, Mexico along the coast of Belize to
the Bay Islands of Honduras.
• New Caledonia Barrier Reef - second longest double barrier reef in the world, with a length of about 1,500 kilometers
(930 mi).
• Andros, Bahamas Barrier Reef - third largest in the world, following the east coast of Andros Island, Bahamas, between
Andros and Nassau.
• Red Sea Coral Reef - located off the coast of Israel, Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and
Yemen
• Pulley Ridge - deepest photosynthetic coral reef, Florida.
• Numerous reefs scattered over the Maldives.
• Ghe Raja Ampat Islands in Indonesia's West Papua
2. PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
What is a Coral?
→ It is actually composed of tiny, fragile animals
2 Classifications of Corals:
Hard Coral - grow in colonies and are the architects of coral reefs.
Soft Coral - such as sea fingers and sea whips, are soft and bendable and often resemble plants or trees. These corals do not have stony
skeletons, but instead grow wood like cores for support and fleshy rinds for protection.
What is a coral polyp?
→ Invertebrate (spineless animal; they are cousins to anemones and jellyfish) that ranges in size from tiny (no bigger than a
pinhead) up to a foot in diameter
How old are Coral Polyps?
→ the geological record indicates that ancestors of modern coral reef ecosystems were formed at least 240 million years ago.
How is a coral reef constructed?
→ Coral reefs are complex, multistory structures with holes and crevices shared by various creatures.
How long does it take for a coral to grow?
→ massive corals are the slowest growing species, adding between 5 and 25 millimeters (0.2–1 inch) per year to their length.
Branching and Staghorn corals can grow much faster, adding as much as 20 centimeters (8 inches) to their branches each year.
How do corals get their shape?
→ the shape of coral colonies also depends on the location of the coral. For example, in areas with strong waves corals tend
to grow into robust mounds or flattened shapes. In more sheltered areas, the same species may grow into more intricate shapes with
delicate branching patterns.
How do coral Polyps Eat?
• Many coral polyps are nourished by a tiny algae called zooxanthellae (pronounced zo-zan-THEL-ee)
• corals eat is by catching tiny floating animals known as zooplankton
How Corals Get their Colors?
→ their brilliant color comes from the zooxanthellae living inside their tissues. Several million zooxanthellae live and
produce pigments in just one square inch of coral.
3 ways Corals Reproduce
1. Hermaphrodites - meaning they produce both sperm and eggs at the same time
 2. Gonochoric - meaning that they produce single-sex colonies
3. Coral spawning - ejecting large quantities of eggs and sperm into the surrounding water. When this happens, the eggs
and sperm fertilize in the water.
Where Do Corals Live?
→ exist both in temperate and tropical waters, shallow-water reefs form only in a zone extending from 30° N to 30° S of the
equator
Ideal Environment for CORAL REEFS
• At or slightly below sea level
• Shallow water
• Salinity 30-40 parts per thousand
• Areas of strong wave action
• Temperatures of 73-80 degrees F
What do corals need to survive?
• Sunlight
• Clear water
• Warm water temperature
• Clean water
• Saltwater
3. Biological Components of Coral Reefs
►Coral reefs support approximately 25 percent of all known marine species. As one of the most complex ecosystems on the
planet, coral reefs are home to more than 4,000 species of fish, 700 species of coral, and thousands of other plants and animals.
Imagine a coral reef like a bustling city: the buildings are made of coral and thousands of inhabitants live in, on, or near the buildings.
In this sense, a coral reef is like a metropolis under the sea.
Coral Reef Fish
→Coral reef fish are perhaps the most obvious, colorful, and fascinating to watch of all the myriad creatures that
inhabit these fascinating ecosystems.
Coral Reef Animals (Invertebrates)
→Invertebrates the most diverse and numerous of all the animals inhabiting coral reef ecosystems; they are also the
primary builders of coral reefs and an integral part of many aspects of the ecology of coral reef ecosystems.
Five Most Common Groups of Invertebrate Animals
• Cnidarians - are an animal group comprised of a number of familiar marine animals including corals, jellyfish, and
anemones.
• Sponges - are the most primitive all animals, lacking muscular, nervous, circulatory, or digestive systems of even the most
rudimentary kind.
• Echinoderms - The name "Echinoderm" literally means "spiny-skinned", a trait that shared by all members of the group.
Here, we shall briefly introduce the five most common types found in coral reef environments. These are the sea stars, brittle
stars, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, and crinoids.
• Mollusks - are a diverse and abundant group of invertebrate animals that inhabit a wide variety of marine habitats, including
coral reefs. Three main groups of mollusks are generally part of coral reef ecosystems: gastropods (snails, chitons,
nudibranchs), bivalves (clams, mussels, scallops), and cephalopods (squid, cuttlefish, octopus).
• Crustaceans - include such familiar animals as shrimps, lobsters, and crabs. Members of the Class Crustacea are common in
coral reef communities, and found in virtually all three primary coral reef zones. Ex. spiny lobsters, shrimps, and crabs.
Coral Reef Plants
Types of Plants Found in Coral Reef Ecosystems
• Marine Algae are - the oldest members of the plant kingdom, extending back many hundreds of millions of years. They have
little tissue differentiation, no true vascular tissue, no roots, stems, or leaves, and no flowers. Algae range in size from
microscopic individual cells to huge plants more than 100 feet long.
• Seagrasses - are a very unique and specialized group since they comprise only a fraction of one percent of all flowering
plants. In addition to providing food and habitats for numerous marine animals
4. Importance and its significance
• Biologically Diverse
• Nutrition
• Water Filtration
• Economic Development
• Medicine
• As A Provider Of Materials For The Construction Industry
• A Barrier from Storms and Surge
5. HUMAN IMPACT ON CORAL REEFS
• POISONING
• DYNAMITING
• POLLUTION
• OVERFISHING
• SHIP’S ANCHOR
• GLOBAL WARMING