EXPLORING

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EXPLORING
CORAL REEFS
by
Phoebe Marie Maripi R. Reyes
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Have you seen a coral reef?
It looks like a garden under the sea.
It lies some distance from the seashore just
beneath the water.
If you know how to swim, you can take a closer
look using goggles.
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What can you see in a coral reef?
and of course, CORALS!
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What are corals?
They are organisms with parts that look like
flowers of different colors.
http//gutsytuason.net/gallery.html
http//www.reefbase.org/DataPhotos/dat_photos_view
.asp?PicID1270
Are they plants?
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They feed on zooplankton (tiny drifting animals),
small fishes, and fine organic debris.1
coiled venom-filled thread with a minute barb at
its tip
bulbous double-walled microscopic stinging
capsules
barb
tentacles
Sensor
The polyp uses its stinging tentacles to paralyze
and feed on zooplankton and small fishes.2
Are they animals?
Sources 1Sea World (1996). Diet and eating
habits Corals and coral reefs. 2Viles and
Spencer in Russell, K. (2002). Human impacts on
coral reefs.
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Corals are animals which harbor photosynthetic
algae. They grow only in the shallow, warm
waters of the tropics where sunlight and a warm
temperature are available.
They build skeletons of calcium carbonate at the
rate of 1-10 cm a year. The skeletons are the
nonliving part of the corals.
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The living part is made up of the tiny coral
polyps. They sit on cups at the surface of the
reef or skeletons of calcium carbonate. The cups
form a pattern that tells us the name of the
coral.
A coral polyp begins its life as a tiny larva (as
small as the size of the head of a pin!).
The flower-like parts that we see are tentacles.
A coral reproduces by budding (identical polyps
sprout out of the polyps side)
One it settles on a hard support, it will not
move again.
and by sexual reproduction (polyps release eggs
and sperm, which unite in the water).
The soft body ranges from 1-3mm in diameter.
Source EnchantedLearning.Com. (2004). Coral.
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The nonliving skeleton is the habitat of a
diversity of living organisms. The coral reef
provides a home for many sea organisms such as
mollusks
shrimps
fishes
starfishes
crabs
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Filipinos eat close to 1 million metric tons per
year of fish and other seafoods.
One square kilometer of healthy coral reefs can
produce 15-30 metric tons of fish every year. At
the current state of our reefs, we produce barely
5 to 7 metric tons per square kilometer every
year.
Source Tan, J.M.L. (2001). Food for thought.
Sunday Inquirer Magazine. Manila Philippine
Daily Inquirer.
How come we are producing less than expected?
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Our reefs are being destroyed by human activities
such as
dangerous fishing practices
Dynamite fishing Cyanide poisoning Muro-ami
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deforestation of upland forests of
mangrove areas
heavy fertilizer use
What will happen if these activities continue?
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What can we do to help save our coral reefs?
Let us make a website!
Print stickers and donate proceeds to NGOs that
help save coral reefs.
How about a newsletter?