Here’s a picture of a healthy sample of the Great Barrier Reef. Next to it is a sample that was exposed to CO2 levels we can expect if we do nothing about climate change.
via: 350.org
Algal growth over dead coral prevents coral recruits from settling and re-establishing the coral reef. Algae ecosystems support less diversity of life. This year is predicted to be a bad year in the Asia-Pacific for Coral Bleaching so keep an eye out!
New PNAS Paper on Coral Resilience to Climate Change
A recent study(freePDF) from Stanford University published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) considers how some reef building corals resist the stress of warmer waters that has caused coral bleaching around the world.
Using comparative genomics, researchers found that the heat tolerant corals have prepared for heat by switching on a set of 60 particular genes. Other coral species have also been found to switch on these genes but only after stress has already occurred. Resilient Samoan corals, however, have these genes switched on all of the time.
The results of the study show that some corals have the ability to withstand future increases in ocean temperature and highlight efforts to protect these resilient places.
Learn more at: http://www.oceansciencenow.com/wp/. The full PNAS article can also be found online here.
Explosion of fish! Taken in Raja Ampat, Indonesia during the December 2012 Bluewater Photo / Underwater Photography Guide Raja Ampat photo trip by Scott Gietler.
Mushroom coral
Family: Fungiidae
El Nido, Philippines
Many corals are nocturnal feeding. During the day you can clearly see their calcium carbonate skeleton, tinted with the colours of the zooxanthellae in the retracted coral polyps.
In the case of mushroom coral, the polyps are solitary, not colonial, meaning that each round disc of coral is one animal. The mouth is located centrally and is surrounded by tentacles.
A crab with outstretched arms about 8 inches across, which are only observed living on soft coral. Image captured August 5, 2010 by the Little Hercules ROV at 704 meters depth on a new seamount mapped by Baruna Jaya IV during the INDEX SATAL 2010 Expedition.
Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, INDEX-SATAL 2010.
This beautiful image displays a four-way assocation between creatures:
The hermit crab is associated with the soft coral (with its polyps retracted). The hermit crab is also associated with an episymbiontic anemone - the snail shell provides a home to both animals. Image captured by the Little Hercules ROV at 422 meters depth on ‘Site K’, explored July 11, 2010 during the INDEX SATAL 2010 Expedition.
Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, INDEX-SATAL 2010.
Google offers virtual dives among world’s coral reefs
The first underwater panoramic images were added to Google Maps in hopes that up-close views of underwater wonders will inspire people to protect them.
Coral Spawning
In the ocean’s biggest coordinated orgy, corals release millions of eggs and sperm simultaneously in response to environmental cues. Such cues can involve temperature change, lunar cycle, day length, and possibly chemical signalling. Mass spawning ensures maximum survival rates as there are not simply enough predators to eat all the eggs.
Coral fluorescence by Carlos Villoch
It is not yet fully understood why, some corals, such as those in the Red Sea, are fluorescent when viewed under blue light.
Corals possessing this feature appear to be thriving by comparison to those that do not. It is possible that this adaptation it is used as a mechanism to filter some of the harmful rays from the sun, which gives the fluorescent corals a greater chance of survival, particularly in warmer waters.
Cleaner Shrimp (Urocaridella antonbruunii) and Coral Grouper (Cephalopholis miniata)
Cleaner shrimp form mutualistic relationships with many fish species. The shrimp eat parasites off the fish, even venturing deep inside the mouth to do so. Amazingly, the fish getting cleaned never attempt to eat the shrimp.
