Coral is made by millions of tiny carnivorous creatures that are called “polyps”. Polyps live in groups called colonies. Each polyp builds a case of limestone around itself, using calcium found floating in the marine water. This is like a house for the polyps, with a floor and walls. After one polyp dies another will soon take its place and begin the construction on his house on top of the past home. Once these formations to limestone increase they tort what we call a coral reef. In shallow water a kind of algae will embed itself and live in the tissues of the polyps.
The algae use the sunlight and waste products of the polyp to make the necessities like oxygen and food for the polyps. This kind of algae is called a ‘Contextually”. Contextually need sunshine to survive, so due to this they do not live in deep water where sunshine does not filter through Coral reef contains zones that represent different kinds of habitats. Usually there are three zones are present, the fore reef, reef crest, and the back reef. All three zones are interconnected physically and ecologically.
The three zones seawater, sediments, nutrients, and marine life among one another _ They are each components Of the oral reef ecosystem that play a role in supporting the reefs complex community Of fish and Other aquatic life. Over four thousand species Of fish inhabit coral reefs over the world. Fish feed either on small animals living near the coral, seaweed, algae, or on the coral itself. This is all a part of the very diverse food chain present in this marine ecosystem. First there are the producers, the phytoplankton on the ocean’s surface. Then there are the primary consumers, the coral, sea turtle, and fish.
Following this there are the secondary consumers, the, anemones, starfish, barracuda, jellyfish, sea snakes and sea slugs. There is also the top predator, sharks. There are also other classifications of coral reef life, the scavengers, fish. Then there are the last but not least the decomposer or detersives, microorganisms, This marine ecosystem can be easily disrupted by the mistakes to humans. There have been over 87 oil spill in the past two years. 4 percent of marine life was killed just from oil, One of the most tragic oil spills to have affected a coral reef was the Great barrier Reef oil spill.
The Great Barrier Reef oil spill happened on April 3, 2010. The man-made crisis was caused when a Chinese oil carrier, owned by Sheen Energy Transport Company, hit the OTTOMH of the ocean floor east of Rock Hampton in Queensland, Australia. The vessel spilled roughly four tones of oil into the ocean. The boat avgas more than ten kilometers Off of its shipping lane, meant to prevent such accident causing catastrophes. It hit the bottom of the reef in the afternoon of April third, scraping the reef for a long distance.
This scrape is now the longest known grounding scar to date on the Great Barrier Reef. The grounding scar on the Great Barrier Reef is roughly three kilometers long and two-hundred and fifty meters (a Quarter Of a kilometer) wide. Many boats were sent to try and help remove the vessel. With a mooing storm, it was feared that the boat would break apart causing further damage. Eventually they managed to reflect the boat and take it to Harvey Bay, Australia. After many long hours of unloading they had removed about a third of its cargo.
Following clean-up, the Sheen Eng was towed to Singapore, The ship’s captain and its first officer were both charged and lost their jobs as a result of the accident. The maximum fine for shipping companies that cause damage on any reef was increased after this incident. Ay April 13, 2010, oil was washing up on the beaches of North West Island Australia, destroying a large bird and sea turtle jesting area. Many are concerned that there may be considerable long term damage to the Great Barrier Reef, Currently, the damaged areas have become completely void of all marine elite.
It is estimated that it could take approximately ten to twenty years before the Great Barrier Reef returns to its original state as it was before the incident. Coral reefs are even more affected by pollution. Did you know that over that they found a giant patch of garbage the size of Texas swirling around in the north pacific? Nothing has ever been outfitted on a ship to skim plastic. But let’s Say it did, and let’s also say it could hold 500 million pounds Of lactic. You’d need 630 of them to do the job. That is roughly about 17 percent of the planet’s current fleet Of Oil tankers.
This was just one assurance Of an Oil spill, Just imagine this happening eighty seven time throughout the world. That is a catastrophic amount Of casualties to the marine population. NOW you know everything about the amazing coral reefs. How they form and what they are made of, the layout of this diverse ecosystem. You even know about the food chain, you know what we as humans have done to hurt this beautiful masterpiece. All oftenest things are a part of the amazing and incomprehensible world of the coral reefs.
