EXPLORING CORAL REEFS Phoebe Marie “Maripi” R. Reyes by:

Have you seen a coral reef? 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. It looks like a garden under the sea.

What can you see in a coral reef? …different kinds of colorful fishes …invertebrates such as shrimps, starfish, sponges, shells … and of course, CORALS!

What are corals? They are organisms with parts that look like flowers of different colors. Are they plants?

body wall CORAL POLYP connects the polyp to another polyp mouth They feed on zooplankton (tiny drifting animals), small fishes, and fine organic debris. 1 Are they animals? tentacles The polyp uses its stinging tentacles to paralyze and feed on zooplankton and small fishes. 2 Sensor bulbous double- walled microscopic stinging capsules coiled venom-filled thread with a minute barb at its tip barb Sources: 1 Sea World (1996). Diet and eating habits: Corals and coral reefs. 2 Viles and Spencer in Russell, K. (2002). Human impacts on coral reefs.

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.

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. tentacles connects the polyp to another polyp mouth body wall CORAL POLYP The soft body ranges from 1-3mm in diameter. The flower-like parts that we see are tentacles. A coral polyp begins its life as a tiny larva (as small as the size of the head of a pin!). One it settles on a hard support, it will not move again. A coral reproduces by budding (identical polyps sprout out of the polyp’s side)… … and by sexual reproduction (polyps release eggs and sperm, which unite in the water). Source: EnchantedLearning.Com. (2004). Coral.

The nonliving skeleton is the habitat of a diversity of living organisms. The coral reef provides a home for many sea organisms such as: fishes mollusks starfishes shrimps crabs

Filipinos eat close to 1 million metric tons per year of fish and other seafoods. One square kilometer of healthy coral reefs can produce 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. How come we are producing less than expected? Source: Tan, J.M.L. (2001). Food for thought. Sunday Inquirer Magazine. Manila: Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Our reefs are being destroyed by human activities such as: … dangerous fishing practices Dynamite fishing Cyanide poisoning Muro-ami

… deforestation of upland forests of mangrove areas … heavy fertilizer use What will happen if these activities continue?

What can we do to help save our coral reefs? How about a newsletter? Let us make a website! Print stickers and donate proceeds to NGOs that help save coral reefs.