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