Reef Creatures

Reef Creatures |
Ocean Creatures of the Coral reef Hi Ocean lovers, Here on Maui we are lucky to have the ocean surrounding us. The ocean is a great place to play, surf, swim, and have fun. We v The reef itself is made mostly from Coral: Coral is actually thousands of tiny creatures living together. These tiny creatures are called polyps. These polyps live together in a community. Together they build their home, and work together to get food and survive. The coral polyps are very fragile creatures, they have soft bodies. So they build a hard case called an exoskeleton. This is made from calcium carbonate that they get from the seawater. The calcium is the hard white stuff that coral is made of. The living part (polyp) can be many different colors. Its all about Calcium: Our own bodies use calcium to make our bones, and it is almost the same mineral that makes up the reef. Once the coral polyps builds its exoskeleton it doesn’t move around, it has to stay exactly where it is, and wait for the food to come to it. When one generation of polyps dies, then it makes a space for a new polyp to build. New polyps attach themselves to the empty place and build on top of the calcium left behind by the old polyps. This is how reefs grow up and slowly get bigger. Reefs take many years to grow, and they are very fragile. Take care of the reef: Do not step on the reef, because it is bad for your feet, and it is very bad for the coral too. Reef can get damaged by pollution, or dirty water, like when the ocean water gets brown after heavy rains. If this happens too much the coral gets sick and eventually dies. We need to make sure that we do not harm the reef accidentally. The reef community: A healthy reef is home not only for the coral polyps, but for other creatures as well. Reefs have many caves and places for other creatures to hide or to make into their home. There are all kinds of Crabs, Shrimp, sea slugs, starfish, shellfish, worms, and seaweeds too. Coral reef is a habitat for a whole lot of different creatures. Some of these creatures eat the algae, some eat the se Predators and the food chain:
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Courtesy of Ocean Education (OE).org
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