Everything you need to know about Corals.

 

After watching 'Finding Nemo' and 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara', I have been looking forward to the day when I will finally be able to witness the beautiful Coral Reefs with my own eyes. Now, that they are dying, I fear that the day would never come.

What are corals?

Until a few years ago, I used to think Corals were plants. My childhood self could not have been more wrong. Turns out, corals are actually invertebrate animals that are a part of a larger group of colourful and extremely interesting animals called Cnidaria.

Each individual coral animal is called a polyp. And within each polyp resides algae called 'zooxanthellae' (quite a mouthful right?).  The reason why corals are so pretty is because of the zooxanthellae, let's name it 'zoox' for the time being. The zoox and the corals have a symbiotic relationship; a fancy word for a 'mutually beneficial relationship'. The corals provide a secure shelter for the zoox to live and on the other hand, the zoox provides nutrients to the corals (a product of photosynthesis). This is why corals need a specific set of conditions to survive: shallow, warm, and clear water.

Now, why are they so important?

• They are home to 25% of marine life while covering less than 0.1% of the world's surface!
• Coral reefs can absorb over 97% of single wave energy, reducing the height by 84%; preventing the possibility of tsunamis occurring.
• They support approximately 850 million people who live mostly in developing countries and island nations and therefore depend largely on the food taken from the reef waters. Reef animals are an important source of protein.
• It also supports millions of families financially by encouraging tourism. 

There are many more reasons why Coral reefs are so important, however, I won't dive into all of that right now. I've linked some articles so if you're interested then do check them out!

Why are Corals dying?

Coral Bleaching.

Warming oceans have caused the coral polyps to overheat and expel the algae; the reason for its survival. These animals vomit out the very organism that has been keeping it alive, the loss of the colourful algae leads to the corals turning white, hence the term: "Coral bleaching."

Since they are unable to fulfil their dietary needs, the corals die. 

Image via the 'Chasing Corals' documentary that is available on Netflix.

We are responsible.

Human-induced warming + extreme El Nino event = Loss of reefs.

El Nino event is a large scale ocean-atmospheric climate interaction that is linked to periodic warming in sea surface temperature across central and east-central Equatorial Pacific. 2015 and 2016 witnessed an extreme bleaching event rendering the death of 90% of Okinawa's reefs and 67% of The Great Barrier Reef's reefs.

Also, as the ocean absorbs the increasing amount of CO2, it becomes acidic making it harder for corals to lay down their limestone skeletons and the growth rate slow down.

Step back and reflect.

This massive tragedy is occurring underwater yet we remain oblivious to it.

As Zackery Rago from the 'Chasing Corals' documentary rightfully  said,

"You are down there. And to sit there for a month, and every single day watch something new around you die that you saw yesterday... it's just difficult."

I highly recommend watching 'Chasing Corals' on Netflix or even Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGGBGcjdjXA&t=4441s). You'd literally feel the sadness of witnessing the beautiful corals dying, just like that.

NOTE: This article just offers you a glimpse about the beautiful yet fragile world of Corals, enough to make you aware. However, if you're interested, I'm linking a few articles below.

• What are Corals? : https://www.icriforum.org/about-coral-reefs/what-are-corals/
• Why are corals so important? :https://www.icriforum.org/about-coral-reefs/what-are-corals/
• Corals are dying. :https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/01/coral-bleaching-reefs-climate-change-el-nino-environment/
• There is still some hope. : https://theconversation.com/why-theres-still-hope-for-our-endangered-coral-reefs-104503
• This another awesome documentary that made aware of Coral bleaching in the first place. :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wthTmQHmuZ0

That's about it.