There are 2 types of coral reef:
- oceanic - found far away from land, where the ocean floor rises in underwater mountain ranges. Some of these mountain ranges break the ocean surface to form islands and many reef thrives in these shallow waters.
- continental - form close to non-reef landmasses.There are 3 types of continental reef.
- Shelf Reef - form close to continents, on the sloping continental shelves.
- Fringing Reef - shelf reefs that develop close to land in shallow waters.
- Barrier Reef - walls of coral that line the edge of a continental shelf.
Animals which Live in the Coral includes:
- Crinoid- also known as sea lilies and feather-stars.
- Adult Nudibranch- also known as sea slugs and mollusks without shells.
- Coral Catfish- may look harmless, but there is poison in their fins.
- Loggerhead Sea Turtle- shell colour is reddish brown and the skin colour is brown yellow.
- Coral Trout- known as leopard coral trout and is the largest predatory fish on the reef.
- Clownfish- fishes from the subfamily amphiprioninae in the family pomacentridae.
- Giant Clam- also known as tridacna gigas and it lives in the Great Barrier Reef.
- Parrotfish- its family contain ten gernara and about 90 species.
Coral Reef's Threats
The reason of coral reef is endangered is due to:
- Over-fishing: Is the most serious threats to the ecosystems. This affects the ecological balance of the coral reef communities, warping the food chain.
- Destructive Fishing Practises: These include cyanide fishing, blast or dynamite fishing, and bottom trawling.Bottom-trawling is one of the greatest threats to cold-water coral reefs.
- Careless Tourism: Careless boating, diving, snorkeling, and fishing happens around the world, with people touching reefs, stirring up sediment, collecting coral, and dropping anchors on reefs.
- Coral mining: Live coral is removed from reefs for use as bricks, road-fill, or cement for new buildings. Corals are also sold as souvenirs to tourists and to exporters who don't know or don't care about the longer term damage done, and harvested for the live rock trade.
- Climate Change: Corals cannot survive if the water temperature is too high. Global warming has already led to increased levels of coral bleaching, and this is predicted to increase in frequency and severity in the coming decades.
- Boat and Shipping: traffic physical destruction of reefs
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Ocean's Threats
Ocean being polluted is due to:
- overfishing: Although many fishers are well aware of the need to safeguard fish populations and the marine environment, but, however, the greed and waste of some large commercial fleets combined with modern developments in fishing technology have had an enormous effect on fishing worldwide.
- lack of protection: Until now, the world does not have a global legal framework to enable High Seas Marine Protected Areas to be established. In addition, international agreements and conventions already govern some aspects of international waters, but is no single overarching legal framework that regulates all activities on the high seas.
- pollution: From plastic bags to pesticides - most of the waste we produce on land eventually reaches the oceans, either through deliberate dumping or from run-off through drains and rivers. This includes:oil, fertilizers, solid garbage, sewage.
- shipping: Sub-standard ships and poor shipping practices are leading to massive marine pollution and damage. This damage is caused by: release of oil and chemicals,
release of biocides, dumping of waste, air pollution, physical and other damage.
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The Purpose of International Year of the Reefrpose of International Year of the Reef (IYOR) 2008
* celebrated worldwide to raise awareness about the importance of coral reefs.
* celebrated worldwide to raise awareness about the threats to coral reefs' sustainability.
* to motivate people to take action to protect coral reefs.
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Information on Coral Reef
-A coral reef is alive, and it is made up of millions of tiny animals living together as an ecosystem.
-Coral reefs may look like plants or stones but they are animals. A piece of coral reef is made up of many coral polyps living todether in a coral colony.
-This coral colony grows from a single coral polyp, which reproduces itself over and over again. Each polyp is connected to the another polyp, and they communicate to another and share food.
-As each polyp grows, it builds a cup-shaped skeleton made of limestone. This polyp can withdraw inside this limestone cup to protect itself.
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-A coral reef is alive, and it is made up of millions of tiny animals living together as an ecosystem.
