What is a Coral Reef?
Coral reefs are diverse underwater ecosystems held together by calcium carbonate structures secreted by corals. Coral reefs are built by colonies of tiny animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony-corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. Set free at Sea Helps lend a hand to these tiny colonies to rebuild for future generations.
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What kind of plants live in the Coral Reef?
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Besides algae, sea-grass is the main type of plants in the coral reef ecosystem. These plants give food and oxygen to the animals that live on the reef. Sea-grass is especially important because they provide shelter for juvenile reef animals like conch and lobster.
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How are Coral Reefs made?
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Coral reefs begin to form when free-swimming coral larvae attach to submerged rocks or other hard surfaces (such as a reef made by Set Free at Sea) along the edges of islands or continents. As the corals grow and expand, reefs take on one of three major characteristic structures —fringing, barrier or atoll.
What is supported by Coral Reefs?
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Aside from the plants we talked about about, the coral provides shelter for many animals in this complex habitat, including sponges, nudibranchs, fish (like Blacktip Reef Sharks, groupers, clown fish, eels, parrotfish, snapper, and scorpion fish), jellyfish, anemones, sea stars and crustaceans. Set Free at Sea know first hand how important coral reefs are to ocean life.
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Want to know more?
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See 25 cool facts on
Coral Reefs on our BLOG
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