All About Coral Reefs

Coral reefs are made up of up tiny corals called polyps. The coral you see in the picture above is not an underwater plant or one big organism but many small organisms! Thousands upon thousands of polyps can make up coral reefs as shown above. Besides polyps, thousands of diverse aquatic species call coral reefs home.

What are Coral Reefs made up of?

As you now know coral reefs are made up of polyps, but what are these polyps and how do they become coral reefs? Let’s dive in. Polyps are soft and tiny organisms related to jellyfish. They live on hard surfaces such as rock on the ocean floor. Once a polyp is settled on a rock it will begin to grow and divide. This polyp will keep cloning until it creates a whole coral. These polyps are attached by a calicle which is the calcium carbonate matrix that holds the polyps together! What makes polyps so amazing as well is that they live for very long. Entire coral reefs can be thousands of years old. However, when you look at a coral not all of it is living. Polyps do eventually die and when they do they leave behind “skeletons” in the form of calcium carbonate. New polyps will flourish on top of old ones and the coral will grow. This process will continue to form beautiful coral reefs even after polyps die. The many colors that coral come in are dependent on the type of coral as well! A red coral is an entirely different type of coral than a green coral for example. 

Why are Coral Reefs Important?

Coral reefs may seem very foreign or strange to you but they’re actually extremely important for our oceans! First off, coral reefs are extremely diverse. They contain over 800 species of coral polyps and over 4,000 species of fish. These make coral reefs some of the most biodiverse places in the world even though coral reefs only cover 0.1% of the ocean floor! 

Because of the hard-rough matrix that makes up coral, it’s very rough. As you know, coral can get pretty big over thousands of years as well. Their rough texture and large shape can actually calm waters and protect shorelines. Coastline protection is extremely important for people living on coasts and on islands. Coral reefs slow down fast-moving water and therefore slow down the erosion of beaches. Slower water means fewer and weaker waves. This means coral preserves our beaches! 

You may think, coral reefs aren’t everywhere so how are they helping me from across the world? I have an answer for you. Fisheries, companies that sell fish, sell species that are only found in coral reefs! Around 50% of all fish sold by these companies come from fish that live in coral reefs. Without coral reefs, which serve as a home for so many fish, fisheries wouldn’t have as much fish to sell and therefore there would be less food on everyone’s table. 

Finally, coral reefs are extremely important for raising money as well! Besides the value they have for being the homes of millions of fish they serve as a tourist attraction for scuba divers and snorkelers. People from around the world travel to coral reefs like the Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of Australia, to witness its beauty and wide variety of species. Not to mention, millions of people visit beaches protected by coral reefs too! 

Where are Coral Reefs found?

Now that you know what coral is made up of and why coral reefs are important you should know where to find some of these beautiful coral reefs! Although polyps can be found in several different temperatures of water, in order to flourish to form coral reefs, coral polyps need warm water - around 73 - 84 degrees Fahrenheit. Because of the need for warm water most coral reefs are found extremely close to the equator - the area of the planet that receives the most sunlight, the “halfway point” between the north and south poles. The most famous coral reef is called the Great Barrier Reef and it is off the coast of Australia. Other places that you can find coral reefs are off the coasts of Indonesia, a country north of Australia, off the coast of Brazil, Cuba, several Pacific Ocean islands, Madagascar, and India. There are hundreds more coral reefs around the world but those are just some notable locations. 

Conclusion

You’re a coral reef expert now! You now know what coral reefs are made up of, polyps! You also know how they help the oceans and you and me! Finally, you know where to find them too! Just by looking at pictures, we all know coral reefs are beautiful, and you now know they’re really important too. However, coral reefs are at risk of extinction. Global warming is heating up the planet and the oceans too. Coral polyps are extremely sensitive to temperature and if the water gets too hot there’s a risk that coral reefs start to die off. This would threaten thousands of species which call coral reefs home. As a new coral reef expert, I urge you to continue your research and maybe get involved with organizations working to save the coral reefs! Organizations like Coral Reef Alliance and the Coral Restoration Foundation are working to help keep our coral reefs healthy and well in the near future.