39 Stunning Photos Of The World's Coral Reefs

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The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is the largest in the world and can be seen from space.

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Each coral is a marine invertebrate made up of many identical polyps.

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Clownfish in a sea anemone

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Corals secrete calcium carbonate, which in turn forms the coral reefs.

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Orange Cup Coral

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Red Hawksbill Sea Turtle

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There are thought to be about 70,000 different types of coral species, but the corals themselves are only a small fraction of the biodiversity that they support.

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Boulder Brain Coral

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Coral reefs only cover 0.2 percent of the ocean floor, but account for 25 percent of all marine species.

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Christmas Tree Worms

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The reefs we see today have been built over the last 5,000 to 10,000 years.

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Frogfish use camouflage to hide in the coral, so they can quickly eat unsuspecting fish that swim by and also escape being eaten by even bigger fish.

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Spiral Wire Coral

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Pillar Coral

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We have already lost 27 percent of the coral reefs around the world, and 60 percent will be gone in the next 30 years if nothing changes.

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Tubeworm

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Individual polyps of a Sea Fan Coral

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The major threats to the coral reefs are climate change, overfishing, and land pollution. They are very sensitive to water temperature and acidity.

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Palm Coral

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Papuan Scorpionfish

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About 500 million people depend on the coral reefs systems around the world for food, coastal protection, and income from tourism.

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Divaricate Tree Coral

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Pygmy Seahorse

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Gorgonian Fan Coral

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Coral bleaching occurs when the water temperature it too high, and the algae that give the corals their color gets ejected. If the algae dont get reabsorbed soon, the coral will die.

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Fungia or Disc Coral

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Nudibranch a.k.a. sea slug

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Starfish eat coral and are a threat to reefs when their population gets too large.

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Crown of Thorn Starfish

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On the other hand, some fish eat invading seaweed and help protect the reefs.

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Broad-Barred Goby

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