Written by Jan Kawczyński
CORAL CHRONICLES: EXPLORING THE ENIGMATIC WORLD BELOW
Coral reefs are large, underwater structures made by corals. Corals are not plants, but animals. More, they are even carnivorous. Corals mostly eat zooplankton. In the XVI century many people thought that they were actually plants, because when rotting, they were emitting a scent of cabbage. This happens because of presence of corallite in their skeleton. Corals are one of three types of cnidarians, others being hydrozoa and scyphozoa.
BEYOND THE OCEAN’S SURFACE: A CLOSER LOOK AT CORALS
Coral reefs are located in a wide tropical strip, located from around the 30th parallel of north latitude to 30th parallel of south latitude. Many years ago, they even reached 50th parallels. We have an idea of coral reefs being located high in the ocean, which makes them visible for human eyes, but it is not true. The deepest reefs ever discovered are located over 2.5 kilometres (1.55 miles) below the sea level! We can find coral reefs only where the concentration of salt in water is around 35 ‰. It is truly incredible.
Here you can see where coral reefs are located
The map comes from nasa.gov
UNVEILING THE SECRET DANCE: THE SYMBIOTIC BOND BETWEEN CORALS AND ALGAE – EXPLORING ITS INTRICACIES AND FACING DOWN THREATS
Corals live with algae (more precisely zooxanthellate) in symbiosis - a state of cooperation between animals from which all parties benefit. In this case corals take sugar and oxygen from algae and algae get, except from safety, nitrogen and phosphorus compounds as well as carbon dioxide. When the water heats up, the symbiosis is disturbed as corals start getting rid of algae, which they need to survive. Then corals bleach and start dying. This process is called coral bleaching. Fortunately bleaching doesn’t always mean death, it just increases coral reefs susceptibility to stress. Corals can also recover zooxanthellae. This process usually takes around 3 to 6 months.
GUARDIANS OF THE OCEAN: WHY PRESERVING CORALS IS ESSENTIAL FOR OUR PLANET’S HEALTH
Coral reefs are the biggest underwater ecosystems and they cooperate with other ecosystems, also those located on land – they protect coasts from erosion. They are a house for around 25% of all known underwater animal species. Corals are extremely important – they are a biodiversity habitat, habitats for larval stages of open sea fish. Reefs are also very important for us, people, over 500 million people live just 100 km from them. Coral reefs are also an integral part of the lives of many people, they give people jobs – coral reefs increase the number of tourists, especially divers.
Coral Operation Rescue Project 