Welcome to the junior Coral Cay expedition. A particular welcome to Woodhouse Primary School, Bournville Infants and Prince Albert School.

You are now part of an expedition to look at the coral reefs of the Red Sea. Coral refs have been called the rain forests of the sea and like the rain forests they provide a living environment for thousands of different plants and animals. What you may not know that coral itself is an animal. This section of the expedition will attempt to help  you understand what coral is, how it reproduces, how it lives, the part it plays in the sea environment and finally how healthy they are.

Firstly let s find out where the Red Sea is. The Red Sea is a sea that starts at the Gulf of Suez in the north down to another stretch of water called the Straits of Bab el-Mandab.

Find where the Red Sea is on a map in the classroom and then look at the map below. This tells you where we are

Day 1 was Saturday 7^th May

Day 2 was Sunday 8^th May

Day 3 was Monday 9^th May

Why is it called the Red Sea?

It?s called the Red Sea because of reddish coloured algae which grows in the sea usually in the month of May. Amazingly when we were diving on Sunday you could see the algae (red brown in colour) beginning to form small patches on the surface of the sea. It looked a bit ?gungy? but I was assured by our marine biologist that it was algae and not gunge.

What are algae? Can you find out? You could go to the ?Ask a Question Section?

What is coral?

Look at the fantastic picture below

This is a photograph was taken in the Red Sea on Sunday and is a photograph of a coral colony called Branching Acropora. Notice the word colony. Probably not the best word to use but it might help you get an idea about the wonderful way in which the coral reefs are formed. Corals are formed by small animals called polyps. These small animals fix themselves to a suitable bit of rock in the sea and then form around themselves a protective chalky shell. They then begin to multiply by a process called ?budding?, which means that they produce polyps identical to themselves around them. These in turn form their chalky shell and then bud and slowly from the individual polyp the attractive coral in the photograph above is formed.

The Polyp

Any living thing needs oxygen and energy to grow. We eat food. Plants use the sunlight to supply their energy. Similarly the coral polyp needs oxygen and energy. So where does it get it from? Let me introduce you to a new word ? symbiosis. This is where instead of an animal living on its own, an animal or plant or an animal and an animal live together, helping each other survive. The coral polyp has a symbiotic relationship with a special type of algae where they both live in close proximity supporting each other in the living and growing process.

More later.