- Any reef that is called a “barrier” reef gets its name because its presence protects the shallow waters along the shore from the open sea.
- A coral reef isn’t a “thing,” it’s actually a community of life that lives and thrives in one location.
- The hard shell you see when coral is removed from water is the hard shell of an animal called a polyp. It is the cluster of polyps growing together that gives reefs their shape.
- Reefs that are noticeable in size, like the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, are between 5 and 10,000 years old.
- The Great Barrier Reef is actually made up of 900 smaller reefs.
- Reefs are very important to the fishing industry because they are the natural habitat of the bait fish which is used to fish for tuna and other large species.
- Reefs are where many fish and sea creatures choose to spawn.
- The numerous types of seaweed, plankton and algae type growths that thrive on a coral reef provide food for an amazing amount of fish – fish that are also safe to feed in the protected structure of the reef.
- Coral reefs can also be started on the shells of sunken boats. In fact, to help preserve different sea biomes, the navy will sink old ships to allow a coral reef to grow.
- A coral reef needs sunlight to grow, that is why they hardly ever grow in waters deeper than 45 feet.
- There are more types of fish living in a two acre area of coral reef than there are kinds of birds in all of North America.