Coral Reefs biology and ecology by Cadence Riggan https://padlet.com/criggan/8kdbs95g3z9e Made with good vibes en-us 2017-09-14 14:13:06 UTC 2025-10-22 20:01:49 UTC hello@padlet.com Coral reefs are wondrous creatures of the world. These amazing creatures start out as single organism and after hundreds of thousands of years they come together and form a colonies which become coral reefs. Some coral reefs began growing 50 million years ago! Interesting fact, some coral reefs can glow in the dark or you can see through them. Coral reefs can’t survive without sunlight so they usually form in shallow water. There are only three types of coral reefs which are barrier reefs, fringing reefs and atolls. Barrier reefs have beautiful colors in fact there are so many colors it would take forever to name all of them. The Barrier reefs get their color from a pigment called chlorophyll. A very famous reef is the Great Barrier located of the cost of Austrailia. It is made up of 600 hard and soft pieces of coral. Over 1,500 sea creatures live in this reef. Different species of fish live in the Great Barrier Reef including clown fish, whales, dolphins and dugong. The great barrier reef is so amazing that it has even been named one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Fringing reefs are the most common type of reef. You can find them near the shore in the tropics.These reefs grow at the same time sea level rises. The fringing reef along with the other two types of reefs are being destroyed because of fishing, careless tourism, marine pollution, sedimentation, coral mining, and climate change. Atolls are a ring shaped coral reef, island or a series of small islands. Atolls are often mistaken for islands but they are technically reefs. An atoll surrounds a body of water called a lagoon. The reef can either cover the lagoon partially or completely. The atoll usually sits on the rim of an extinct volcano or seamount. Atolls can be found in the Pacific Ocean. The isolated atolls in the Pacific and Indian ocean were used by the American, British and french militaries to test their nuclear weapons. We need coral reefs because they protect the coastline from damaging waves. Fishing Industries depend on coral reefs because Coral reefs bring lot’s of young fish in before they make their journey out to sea. Twenty-five percent of all marine life live in coral reefs. Also people spend 1.5 billion dollars on tourism which is also good for the business. Coral reefs are very important in our lives. Coral reefs are amazing! criggan https://padlet.com/criggan/8kdbs95g3z9e/wish/187579243 2017-09-14 14:21:14 UTC https://padlet.com/criggan/8kdbs95g3z9e/wish/187579243 criggan https://padlet.com/criggan/8kdbs95g3z9e/wish/188556529 2017-09-18 16:36:57 UTC https://padlet.com/criggan/8kdbs95g3z9e/wish/188556529 criggan https://padlet.com/criggan/8kdbs95g3z9e/wish/188557879 2017-09-18 16:39:18 UTC https://padlet.com/criggan/8kdbs95g3z9e/wish/188557879 criggan https://padlet.com/criggan/8kdbs95g3z9e/wish/188884320 2017-09-19 13:39:14 UTC https://padlet.com/criggan/8kdbs95g3z9e/wish/188884320 Dead coral reef criggan https://padlet.com/criggan/8kdbs95g3z9e/wish/188886643 2017-09-19 13:42:55 UTC https://padlet.com/criggan/8kdbs95g3z9e/wish/188886643