Fun Facts

There are tons of fun facts about corals! Did you know that the coral population has been going down since 1950? Coral bleaching is hurting corals, to learn more go to the Coral Bleaching tab. Also, if you see any of the words that are underlined, click on it and you can see the definition in the glossary.

38 fun facts that you might not know!

Orange cup corals are really different, they make their own outer- skeleton which you can see as the cup like limestone underneath.

When corals are stressed, they express these feeling in a way known as coral bleaching.

Corals are related to jellyfish and anemones

Since the 1990,cientist figure out that corals are a type of animals and they go to the jellyfish family, because coral, jellyfish and anemones have some thing that are on them are the same with all of them. also they make all together a Cnidarians. " A Cnidarians is a soft-body animals that include corals, jellyfish, and sea anemones". Cnidarians help are earth by making reefs. FACT: Did you know that cnidarians can be also called as a stinging needles. Also , now we know that anemones and coral are friends because the exchange nutrients from each other!

Corals have animals that live in them

The corals that you are hurting are also hurting animals that live in them! Lets take you as a animal, how would you feel if you could not talk, lived in the coral and the corals are dieing and you died with the coral or the coral started dieing and you did not have a house. how do you feel like that is the same thing with the animals that live in corals. Also, we know many corals are dieing.What about the animals? they are dieing as well. so now, we have lest sea corals and lest sea animals, which id very bad. Also, the anmals do not like it at all.

Colorful corals have this algae called zooxanthellae

Zooxanthellae is brownish or greenish because of this pigment called chlorophyll, zooxanthellae are light sensitive that increases or decreases based on light intensities, and results as it becoming lighter or darker. Corals hold many types of zooxznthelae, which is often known as clade. When corals are in stress conditions, they release the zooxanthellae and become white which is known as coral bleaching. If you want to know more about this, You can go to colorful corals.

Corals can live in the deep sea

There are different places where corals live, deep sea corals live really deep down in the ocean. These corals belong to a group of animals called the cnidaria, they look kind of like sea anemones, they also live in one place and catch food with their tentacles. These corals don't need sunlight to survive and explore, corals have been found 20,000 feet below that oceans surface, where the water is freezing and there is barely any sunlight.

Fire coral,

This coral is coral is called a fire coral

organ pipe coral,

This coral is called a organ pipe coral

Corals can eat small fish

Every coral polyp has a stinging cell inside their tentacles that is

used like a harpoon to catch floating plants and animals, called

plankton, Like their cousins, jellyfish, corals have stinging cells to

help them catch and eat their plankton and fish.

Corals can be fluroscent

Some corals produce fluroscent pigments naturally, that can appear as a wide array of colors. These molecules, might have a protective shield to protect corals from this ultra - violet and highlight. These corals are species of indicators, and that means that they are really sensitive to the changes in the environment around them. If the environment is great, corals can live up to hundreds of years! Researchers think that if the water and environment is perfect, corals can live forever!!

Corals can move

Even though corals are permanently attached to the ocean floor, baby corals ( Larval) can actually swim! When corals reproduce, the eggs get fertilized, and the baby corals swim and find a place to settle in and live, then they can make more of their coral colonies. By the way, baby corals cannot swim, but they do ride the ocean currents to get to other places.

Corals need sunlight to grow

Coral reefs are better off in the shallow water where there is plenty of sunlight and nutrients for the coral reefs to grow. Coral reefs generally grow best above 70 meters, where the sunlight reaches it's best. But, even though the sunlight helps the corals grow, if the ocean gets way too hot, corals will feel stressed out and they will take out their algae which results to coral bleaching. We have to do our best at lowering pollution so the corals won't stress out, then these corals will live a happy life!

Climate change can be a huge threat to corals

Corals can become stressed if the water becomes warm due to climate change, if the temperatures don't go down, the corals will likely be starving and might actually die. Coral bleaching is happening more and more often, and if we don't stop our green house gas emmissions, our coral reefs will sweep out through the nation over the few decades. Everyone can start doing things to stop climate change.

Corals can clean the water

They clean the water by feeding on the dirt in the water, and this actually can clean water, and this actually leaves the ocean incredibly clear! By the way, murky water doesn't contain coral, because if there is too much murky water, the corals can actually die of the dirt in the water.

They don't like plastic

Plastic hurts the coral, you ask? Because, plastic is not food. Like the food we eat is not plastic! That is the same with corals. Also, how would you feel if you ate plastic? If you don 't Like it, that is how corals feel if they eat plastics? we are having trash and plastic in sea and it is absorbing in to the sea, and the animals and the coral are getting stuck in it.

Deep-sea coral

This photo shows a photo of a deep sea coral. This is called this because, They live in the sea but this coral live at the down deep sea.

Hard coral

This coral is called a soft coral, Do This coral is a hard coral, Do you know why is this coral is called a hard coral? Well, This is because, This coral is very hard. This coral is hard to break!

Soft corals

This coral is called a soft coral, Do you know why this coral is called a soft coral, This is because this coral is soft, this coral is easy to break!

Corals support a quarter of ocean life

Corals support partly of ocean life, because corals are often known as the architect species or the ecosystem engineers for constructing the places where animals live. If you think of the coral reef as an under- water forest, the forest would not be there if the trees are not there. Corals give animals a free space to live and corals also give us our sandy white beaches.

Corals can get hurt if you litter in the ocean

Litter can harm corals, because these corals are very very sensitive, and if a piece pf trash gets stuck in them, they will get stuck, and they can actually get hurt and die. So we have to be aware that every piece of trash we throw in the ocean, will hurt a coral. And trash can also hurt fish and other species in the ocean not only coral. So we have to make sure that we are throwing our trash in a trash can, not an ocean, millions of species can die!

Corals have life too

Even though corals look like plants, they have babies just like any other animal would. Corals, can eat things too, corals like to eat plankton, and fish prey. As you see, corals are not different from any animal, they are the same. It is really satisfiying to see a coral eat food, it takes a very long time, but they still can eat. And that is how corals act like any other animal. Corals also provide a home for fish that need one, and these animals can be a big help for the ocean.

colonies around a starfish. This shows a starfish. ( if you look on the top right) there are corals

This fish Is being eaten by a coral,Because the fish went to0 close to the coral.

Corals have a big digestive system

corals actually eat the plastic even though they can get stuck in it

sometimes. Corals can consume any plastic that gets thrown in the

ocean, they are technically the ocean cleaners. But actually they can't

see that they are coral, as they don't have eyes.

Do not feed a fish that live in corals

Some fish that live at a coral reef, So we need to let the

fish learn how to get their own food. Some fishes come to

you because you are fishing and put a worm on the hook

so the fish would want to eat the worm, but they end up

been eaten.

Do not take any corals

Please do not take corals out of the ocean, this can actally kill many fish that live in the coral reefs, and then they wouldn't have a home to live in. As you know, coral reefs provide homes for many fish and sea creatures, and without corals, they won't have a place to live!

Do not litter

Littering is bad for corals, Littering hurts corals. It is just not corals, Many animals get hurt too!

Things that you should not throw in the sea:

Any cup

Paper bags or any bag

Paper spoons or paper forks

Any plate or paper plate

Any kind of oil

Any kind of can

Any things that are sharp

Any dead things

You can see all of the things that corals are facing, If you want to know more, you can go to the danger they face.

This is a lace coral.

This is a sun coral

his is a boulder star coral

This is a veuns sea fan coral

If you want to know more about different type of coral, you can go to different types

You can find corals in Hawaii

You can find corals in Hawaii, Because they can find all of the things in Hawaii, and corals cannot die in Hawaii!

Also, Corals finds that Hawaii is their home! Also, corals can find all of there food there. Like if you want to see something,

you have to travel far to find just one thing that you wanted to see! and that is the same withe corals.

How are coral reefs formed

We start with a little coral, every day, the coral grows big, and big, and

big ! After doing this for many years, the coral makes more corals

around it! And then, those groups of coral does the same, and it

keeps going on and on and on, and that is how a coral reef is

formed!

The great barrier reef is 20,000 years old

Have you ever thought , How old is the great barrier reef? Did you know that the great barrier reef is 20,000 years old! That is Very old! Many corals or all of the corals are not as old as the great barrier reef The great barrier reef is home to many animals, There are over 9,000 animals that live in the great barrier reef! That is a lot of animals!