*loosely adapted from a portion of Dr. Seuss’: One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish.*
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"Yes, some corals are red. And some corals are blue. Some corals are old, and some corals are new. Some corals are sad, and some corals are glad. And some corals are very very well clad.
Why are corals sad and glad and well clad?
I do not know.
Go ask your friendly neighborhood marine scientist.”
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Photo: freepik.es
Personally, I think the second line would go a little more something like this:
“Some corals are sad, and some corals are glad. And some corals are VERY VERY…ecologically important for the maintenance and structure of reef biodiversity worldwide and are experiencing environmental changes that are causing reefs to lose coral communities that are important for fish spawning, food-web interactions and ecosystem processes that will, in turn, affect much of marine life.”
But that doesn’t rhyme and is probably a *little* too wordy for a child’s attention span.
Since I work so closely with corals (and previously tried to describe them via Dr. Seuss), I thought I would introduce them to you guys:
Corals are marine animals that live in colonies. When looking at a reef, it might be easy to assume that the whole structure is one animal, but thousands of animals actually live together to create large structures. Stony corals, often called “reef-building corals,” have hard, calcium carbonate skeletons (limestone) that build up over many years to often create a hard, stony look. Above this rigid skeleton are the actual coral individuals called polyps (Po-lips). These polyps have a mouth, which they use to grab organisms floating past in the water column for food. The animal tissue is also home to a photosynthetic organism called zooxanthellae (Zo-zan-thel-ee).
Photo: Wikipedia.com
These photosynthetic organisms get to hang out in the coral’s tissue, and any nutrients or energy converted from light via photosynthesis can provide food for the corals when there is a lack of free-floating food. This relationship is called symbiosis; both organisms benefit from the relationship. Reef-building corals are sedentary, meaning they do not move.
Corals are classified under the Phylum Cnidaria (Nigh-dare-ee-uh), a large classification that includes jellies (jellyfish as they are commonly referred to), anemones and other organisms.
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*quick side note*
Organisms are classified into groups and named accordingly. The classification begins general and gets more specific with each defined class.
Classification: Domain --> Kingdom --> Phylum --> Class --> Order --> Family --> Genus -->Species (spp.)
A common Caribbean Coral (Porites porites) would be as follows:
Eukarya --> Animalia --> Cnidaria --> Hexacorallia --> Scleractinia --> Poritidae --> Porites --> Porites
The more classifications that organisms have in common, the more closely they are related. Two species that share a genus are more closely related than if two organisms only belong to the same family.
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As you might have noticed, corals are grouped into a Phylum that contains organisms that sting (i.e., jellies).
The vast majority of Cnidarians have stinging cells, which are true for corals; however, they are almost too tiny for someone to notice. Contrastingly, this is not the case for fire corals, which, as the common name implies, hurt if you touch them. Not that I have experienced that or anything. Although fire corals are not actually corals, they have been grouped with them because of their “coral-ish” appearance (Humann & Deloach, 2002).
Finally, coral is important. I do not say that simply because I am primarily working with them in Panama, but because they genuinely are the bedrock of reefs worldwide. I never quite understood the importance of coral until I started seeing them firsthand. Growing up, it was easy to romanticize corals and picture them as vibrant greens, blues, reds and purples while supporting many other aquatic animals such as fish, crabs, and clams. I had never seen a natural reef before, and I did not grow up having a *heart* for them. Sure, I heard corals were dying in the Great Barrier Reef, but they could come back, couldn’t they? After all, it is Australia’s problem; they should be the ones to fix it, right?
It was easy to ignore or not be concerned with the things that didn’t personally affect me, and honestly, it still is.
It took me a long time to realize that the problem of “others” was actually humanity’s problem. I didn’t quite appreciate this until I learned more about coral, the ecosystem services coral provides, and how sensitive coral reefs are. In the next couple of weeks, I hope to introduce you to coral, some of you, for the first time, so these ideas become a little less “foreign” and more of an experience of the beauty that exists in our oceans.
This “wonderful experience” also comes with a hard truth: Corals are at risk from various problems worldwide, and it will continue to have ecological ramifications that we will likely all feel someday. I hope to share some of the ways reefs are threatened, what marine scientists are doing to understand these threats and the extraordinary work that goes into coral restoration.
At the end of the day, I believe the more you get to know something (especially other humans), the more compassion you can extend because it (human beings, the topic, etc.) is familiar. So, this week, I will leave you with an introduction to corals and an encouragement to extend your familiarity, whatever that may look like.
Sincerely,
The miss who is trying, failing and learning to have compassion for those things she does not yet understand
The FUN section:
What kinds of questions do you have about corals?
Fun fact: Corals were actually considered to be plants until 1753.
Animal of the week: Porites porites (Por-eye-tees)
Do you see the polyps waving to the camera?