Thursday, June 16, 2016

Coral Reefs

One night a year, in a wildly improbable mass-spawning event, all the coral of a single species will release eggs and sperm bundled together into tiny translucent globes that cloud the water and rise to the ocean’s surface. Here, the globes break apart, sperm and eggs intermingle, and baby coral larvae are born.
~Meehan Crist, The Quest to Save Coral Reefs

Isn't that amazing about how coral reproduce? They look so much like plants! There's so much variety, as you can see from today's post. If you're interested in helping protect coral reefs, visit the Coral Reef Alliance to learn more.

Coral Reef at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge
Photo by Jim Maragos/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Coral
photo by Daniel Arndt

Euphyllia paraancora
photo by Ben Wagner

Ring of Fire 2002 Expedition
NOAA Photo Library

A variety of corals form an outcrop on Flynn Reef, Great Barrier Reef, Australia
photo by Toby Hudson

Coral at the Tulsa Zoo
photo by Rachel K

Coral
photo by waferbaby

Still-Life with Tuft of Marine Plants, Shells and Corals
by Anne Vallayer-Coster


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2 comments:

  1. HWYJune 16, 2016 at 9:23 AM


    I like to learn something new everyday...and finding out how coral multiply definitely fills that bill! (I, too, have a hard time not thinking of coral as a plant.)

    Lovely photos...and I especially liked the variety of coral on the outcrop at Flynn Reef.

    Plus, interesting little yellow creature "hiding" amongst the coral at the Tulsa Zoo!

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  2. RettaJune 16, 2016 at 4:23 PM

    Simply stunning photos.. my eye candy for the day!
    And the little Clownfish peeking out made me smile.

    ReplyDelete