Common Misconception about Coral Reefs

Most people say that coral reefs are just plants or rocks. However, they are wrong. They are actually a composed of fragile animals called coral polyps,each no larger than a pinhead. Other people also say that coral reefs grow very fast, actually coral reefs will only grow in a range of 0.8 millimetres to 80 millimetres per year!

Here is a conversation between A and B.

A:Coral reefs are not important to us, just who cares about them?

B:NO, A, you are wrong.Coral reefs are important to us as they give many fishes shelter.They also provide medicines for doctors and it can prevent flood and tsunamis to happen.

A:Does global warming affects the coral reef's health?

B:Of course!Coral reefs are only able to live in a temperature of 18-30 degree Celsius.Any higher than that,bleaching will take place.

A:What is bleaching, is it a serious case?

B:Bleaching happens when temperature is higher or lower than its suitable temperature to live in.What will happen is that the zooxanthellae(which that gives it its nutrients and colors) will be lost and hence, the coral reefs will turn white.

A:It only makes the coral reefs less attractive, so why care?

B:Not only it makes the coral reefs ugly, they commonly lose 60-90% of their zooxanthellae and each zooxanthellae may lose 50-80% of its photosynthetic pigments when it is bleached. Hence, they will soon die.

A:I got it now! So to prevent global warming to happen, what must we do?

B:There are many things we can do. We can start off by collecting rubbish and throwing it into the rubbish bin, to reducing use of oil, gasoline. We can also reduce the use of electricity like switching of lights when not in use. Taking a public transport can help too.

A:That's easy.Thank you B for letting me know why must we save coral reefs.