Coarl Reefs

Tropical reefs are built mainly from corals. Corals are primitive animals closely related to sea anemones. Most of the coral types that contribute to reef construction are colonial; that is, numerous individuals called polyps  which come together to form a single, sometimes quite large, organism. When they die they leave behind a calcareous skeleton. (a major contributor to our skeleton is the element calcium so our skeleton are also calcareous)

Below are some photographs of corals ( courtesy of Coral Cay) taken on previous expeditions. It is planned that we will create our own library of pictures on a daily basis as we discover the different corals that populate the Red Sea.

This coral is called Branching Acropora. We will find out more about the naming of corals as the week progresses.

This coral is called Acropora Digitate. Is it called this because it is built by the same polyp (name given to an individual member of the same group) as the previous coral. Find out more in the expedition week.

This is called Blue coral. Why? It doesn't look very blue. Find out more during the expedition week.

This is a great picture of a Fan coral. How does the polyp which makes this coral differ from the polyps that made the previous corals? How delicate is it? Why are they this shape? Find out more in the expedition week.

Guess what the name of this coral is.