Jude Bedessem
Table of Contents
Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................................2 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................3 Did You Know? ............................................................................................................................................3 Coral?...............................................................................................................................................................4 Wow, Look at That.....................................................................................................................................4 What Animals? ............................................................................................................................................5 We’ll Help!.....................................................................................................................................................7 Glossary..........................................................................................................................................................8
Introduction
“Crash!”You might reckinize this sound, it’s a wave .But did you ever wonder what’s farther out? In this book you’ll learn one of the amazing things hidden by the water, Coral reefs. Dive into this book to discover all about animals, food animals eat and how to protect coral reefs for generations.
Did You Know?
There are alot of facts to learn so jump right into this chapter to learn some extra facts. First you need to know where coral reefs grow. Coral reefs grow in warm warters around the world. Some coral reefs are in the Red Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Coral reefs are amazing places. Now you will learn about what coral reefs are made of. Coral reefs is made of coral.coral is what lures the fish that eat coral. The fish lures predators and when plants start growing horbevors come making a wonderful eycoseystem depending on each other.This is two of the most important things to know.
Coral?
Coral, it’s rock hard, it lays eggs but it doesn’t move. So what is it? Coral is a very delicate animal. Coral comes in hard and soft form. The coral you are probably used to is branch coral, which, you probably can tell has branches. Soft and hard coral are both coral but soft coral is not rock hard like hard coral. But what many people don’t know is that both hard and soft coral comes alive at night, eating and taking over each other. After the dark the night riot is over but has left clues everywhere. So coral is here and there and without it coral reefs would be nowhere.
Wow, Look at That
Wow look at the difference! Night, day, night, day, is this the same place? Yes it is. During the day coral reefs are full of fish with bright colors, amazing shapes and are all designed to live in the light. Here and there animals of all types are swimming around. The coral is still but beautiful. This is day at coral reefs but night is completely different. At night dark is all around. The queenofthorns starfish comes out. Some deep dwellers are lurking around. But the coral… is it coral? It’s as alive as you can imagine! It’s moving and eating each other alive! Oh, its laying eggs. Did I fall asleep? No, I didn’t. It is truly night. It is more weird and creepy than
ever before. It is an alien world at night. The coral is alive! Night, day, it’s the same place but the difference is shocking.
What Animals? Look around, you see just a few animals as you dip into the water, than… out of nowhere comes millions of animals! Animals everywhere, from animals like the whale shark to animals like the yellow goby. For starters we’ll begin with fish. Fish come in all shapes and sizes. For example, the ocean sunfish is a giant fish that looks like a semicircle with fins. This fish might not live in coral reefs but is a great example of the many great fish in the seas around the world. Coral reef fish are amazing but fish aren’t alone in the coral crustaceans are also in the coral just hidden away … AAA! Oh it’s just a cuddle fish. Cuddle fish are the masters of disguise. They can change color and shape in seconds. They can even change color to match a checkered board! Cuddle fish most amazing thing is their blood or should I say BLUE BLOOD! Cuddle fish are truly the aliens of the sea. Starfish are also amazing crustaceans. The most unique thing about starfish is some starfish after losing a leg they go away fine and soon the leg will, too after it grows into a new starfish! Starfish eat by forcing their stomach out their mouths! Then all what’s left is dissolving their food. Coral reefs are full of amazing animals that I hope you run into someday.
Munch, Munch, Munch “Yum that was good.” That is what a cuddle fish would say after eating a big crab. Amazing animals amazing food but if you want to understand feeding you first need to understand the food chain. Here every animal counts prey or predator. One species gone so does the rest until it affects us. The number of animals in a species is crucial to the other species. Usually it’s the smaller animals on the bottom of the food chain and the bigger animals on the top but sometimes it can be the opposite. Next you need to know about prey and predators. In coral reefs it is usually the bigger animals that are predators like the tiger shark and the great white shark or even the hammerhead shark. Prey is usually unique to protect or camouflage their selves. Protection is as important to prey as weapons are to predator. Hunting is really important to everything. The balance of life for coral reefs depends on hunting. The reason for this is over population. To many herbivores and all the plants disappear! Same thing everywhere else, too! So hunting isn’t just important for predators unless it’s over hunting. This chapter is making me hungry. How about you?
Oh No! Oh no all the coral reefs are doomed. In many ways we are the ones causing this. Most of the water we pollute runs into or is seas and oceans. But we don’t cause all of it for example; the queenofthorns starfish is one of the problems. These giant starfish eat coral of all sorts but still it’s not all covered we still have storms. Storms can destroy ships of all sizes but they can destroy coral reefs even more. After a storm decades of work is destroyed. But eventually it will grow back. It just takes one surviving coral. Problems as you just read are just everywhere but coral just stares danger in the, well, eye.
We’ll Help! Oh no we are the only ones that can help now! In the chapter Oh No (page seven) you learned some of the problems. But there is hope. Every thing we do can affect coral reefs even if we live miles and miles away from the ocean. To help we first have to not pollute water, second we should not pollute land because eventually it will run to water, and third clean up by rivers, seas, oceans and pretty much everything else. It’s a lot to do but it’s worth it because it can affect our every day life so just think of it as saving yourself.
Glossary Branch coral: a type of coral. Camouflage: when animals use colors to protect themselves or hunt Coral: a still animal that makes up coral reefs. Crustaceans: animals that don’t have backbones. Cuddle fish: a weird crustacean Ecosystem: a system of animals that depends on each other. Food chain: a chain that tells you what animals predators and prey Great white shark: a very ferocious shark Hard coral: a hard type of coral. Hammerhead shark: a shark that looks like a hammer is on heads. Herbivores: animals that eat plants Ocean sunfish: a giant fish. Pacific ocean: the biggest ocean in the world. Predators: animals that eat other animals. Prey: an animal that is food for another animal.
Queen‐of‐thorns starfish: a huge starfish that comes out at night. Red Sea: a sea that is in Africa. Soft coral: coral that’s soft. Starfish: an animal that has many legs and crawls on the ocean floor. Tiger shark: a shark that would eat anything. Whale shark: the biggest fish in the world. Yellow goby: a small yellow fish
Index
animals, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11 Coral, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11 coral reefs, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11 crustacean, 5, 11 Cuddle fish, 5, 11
fish, 3, 4, 5, 7, 11 food, 3, 5, 7, 11 Hard coral, 11 Soft coral, 11 Starfish, 5, 11