More facts about coral reefs

Hi! Today,let us tell you how important the coral reefs are in the sea and how they become a reef.

The coral reefs make the amazing underworld park. Did you know that some fishes make the coral reefs their permanent home and never leave them? Some fishes live in the holes or cracks amongst the coral reef and some fishes hide in them too! Other than fishes, crustaceans, sea urchins and molluscs, other marine creatures also make the coral reefs their home.

The coral reefs are hard skeleton of dead coral polyps that used to live in groups called colonies. So,the coral reefs are built up by many coral polyps over a long period of time. The reefs are an accumulation of skeletons made up of carbonate of lime from dead polyps.

It begins with the formation of corals around the crater of a volcano until a circle of reefs or an atoll develops.then,the volcanic island is eroded away by the waves.It becomes smaller and eventually sinks into the sea leaving the atoll on the surface of the sea.

A fringing reef grows and becomes a barrier reef.New coral continues to grow on the old coral reefs.

The barrier reef continues to grow over the submerged island forming an atoll.

Not all oceans have coral reefs. Coral polyps are able to survive only in shallow tropical reefs. They need sufficient sunlight and water with a temperature not less than 18 Degree Celsius. The biggest coral reef in the world is the Great Barrier Reef along the northeast coast of Australia is the longest coral reef in the world. It is more than 2000km long.

We hope you have learned more about coral reefs.Bye for now!


~Marine Trio`