Coral reefs: Related Content

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Two Years Later

On April 20, 2010, an explosion on the oil-drilling rig Deepwater Horizon caused the largest marine oil spill in US history, gushing nearly 5 million barrels of crude oil over the course of three months.

In the two years since, researchers have been hard at work studying the impacts of the spill. See photos and read about some of the things they've learned about the oil spill's impact on pelicans, dolphins, and corals in this slideshow, and see more in this blog post.

Coral Hermit Crab

A coral hermit crab, Paguritta harmsi, about the size of two grains of rice, living in coral in the waters of Japan's Ogasawara Islands.

Scientists Call New Eel Species A Living Fossil

Scientists at the Smithsonian and partnering organizations have discovered a remarkably primitive eel in a fringing reef off the coast of the Republic of Palau. This fish exhibits many primitive anatomical features unknown in the other 19 families and more than 800 species of living eels, resulting in its classification as a new species belonging to a new genus and family.

Palauan primitive cave eel (Protanguilla palau), a 'living fossil'

The Palauan primitive cave eel (Protanguilla palau) has an evolutionary history that dates back some 200 million years. Because of this and the fact that it has retained some primitive features, scientists are recognizing it as a 'living fossil.' A Japanese research diver, Jiro Sakaue, found the first specimen in February 2009, in a cave of a reef near the Republic of Palau.

Squat Lobster from Reefs of North Carolina

Scientist Martha Nizinski holds a squat lobster (Eumunida picta) collected at the Lophelia reefs off Cape Lookout, North Carolina. Squat lobsters are extremely abundant there and are usually found perched on top of coral mounds. Nizinski’s research has provided a better understanding of the distribution and ecology of these interesting and curious crustaceans.

Amy Baco-Taylor, Deep-Sea Coral Scientist

Dr. Amy Baco-Taylor dives to deep-sea environments to study corals and the invertebrates that live in them.

Lophelia Pertusa Coral Polyps

Deep-sea corals scientist Dr. J. Murray Roberts photographed these living polyps from the Mingulay Reef Complex off Scotland in aquaria in 2010.

J. Murray Roberts, Coral Scientist

J.

Shallow Water Diving with WHOI

"Shallow Water Diving: The Benefits of Being There" produced by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), spotlights researchers using scuba in shallow water. These scientists, working on coral reefs, fish ecology, and sea floor topography, require uninterrupted lengths of time or close work in small areas, which are impossible to do by free diving or snorkeling.

Deep Reef Observation Project (DROP) Video

Dr. Carole Baldwin, a research zoologist and fish expert with the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, gives viewers an inside-look at the Deep Reef Observation Project (DROP). She and her colleagues are trying to understand the biodiversity in coral reefs near Curaçao, an island in the southern Caribbean.

Candy Basslet

A candy basslet (Liopropoma carmabi) was just one of the specimens Smithsonian scientists collected from the deep reefs of Curaçao, in the southern Caribbean. To study biodiversity far below the water's surface, the researchers use a five-person submersible.

Webcast: Stories from the Reef

The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef brings together mathematics, marine science, craft, and community activism in an effort to raise awareness about the threat to coral reefs worldwide. This discussion considers the impact of community projects on conservation efforts with:

Valuable in so Many Ways

CREDIT: HBOI A Cure for What Ails You?

Deep-Sea Coral Habitat

Rockfish, anemones, and other invertebrates inhabit this deep-sea coral reef in Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of California.

New Genus of Bamboo Coral

Found 1,751 m (5,745 ft) below the surface of Hawaii’s waters in 2007, this orange bamboo coral is 1.2–1.5 m (4–5 ft) tall. It is thought to represent a new genus. Learn about more deep-sea discoveries in our Deep-sea Corals article.

Corals at the Smithsonian

Smithsonian zoologist Dr. Steve Cairns named and described this deep-sea coral species, Stephanocyathus paliferus, which is now preserved in the collections of the National Museum of Natural History. The specimens will contribute to future research about deep sea corals. Collection cards record where and at what depths this particular species lives. Learn more about how ocean scientists study deep-sea corals in our Deep-sea Corals article.

Growth Experiment

New, white growth emerges from a living deep-sea coral sample that was stained pink, enabling ocean scientists to measure its coral growth rate. Find out more about how ocean scientists study deep-sea corals in our Deep-sea Corals article.

Sample Close-up

Marine scientists photographed and measured this gorgonian coral (Chrysogorgia sp.) and deep-sea shrimp (Bathypalaemonella sp.) just as they were collected—together. Find out how ocean scientists study deep-sea corals in our Deep-sea Corals article.

Submersible with Coral Samples

The Johnson-Sea-Link submersible reaches the ocean’s surface with a specimen of Keratoisis bamboo coral inside its collection box. Find out how ocean scientists study deep-sea corals in our Deep-sea Corals article.

Red Coral

A fan-shaped colony of red coral (Corallium sp.) on the Davidson Seamount provides a perch for three basket stars as they feed. See more pictures of coral in our Deep-sea Corals article.

Sea Whip Coral

The pink strands of this single deep-sea coral harbor a variety of marine life. Sea whips are gorgonian corals and have flexible skeletons. See more pictures of coral in our Deep-sea Corals article.

Gold Coral

Species of deep-sea gold coral, or Gerardia, often have a tree-like shape, as you can see in this specimen. See more pictures of coral in our Deep-sea Corals article.

Coral for Sale

Red coral necklaces fill a store display window. Harvesting deep-sea coral to produce jewelry like this threatens these ecosystems. Read more about threats to deep-sea corals and coral protection in our Deep-sea Corals article.

Coral Trapped in Trawler Net

A net used to trawl the ocean floor scooped up this large specimen of deep-sea coral. Because the ship was trawling for other species, the coral was discarded as bycatch. Fishing in deep-water habitats poses a major threat to deep-sea corals. Read more about vulnerable coral habitats in our Deep-sea Corals article.

Rockfish Sheltering in Coral

A rockfish finds refuge in a deep-sea coral—a red tree coral of the Primnoidae family in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. Learn more about deep-sea coral reef ecosystems in our Deep-sea Corals article.

Multibeam Sonar Screen

Views of each sonar beam appear on the left side of this computer screen image while the path being mapped by the ship appears on the right.

Shallow and Deep-Sea Coral Reefs

Unlike the shallow tropical coral reef pictured on the top, the deep-sea Oculina reef at bottom does not require sunlight. Learn more in the article "Coral Gardens of the Deep Sea."

Aleutian Coral Reef

Several species of deep-sea corals form a garden 165 m (540 ft) below the ocean’s surface off the coast of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. Explore more in the multimedia feature "Coral Gardens of the Deep Sea." 

A Pleasant Surprise: The Recovery of Bleached Panamanian Corals

Last September, the Citizens of the Sea blog series brought you a story of doom and gloom from the reefs of Bocas del Toro, Panama. That is the time of year we typically study -- and celebrate -- the annual birth of baby corals in the area. We arrived to find very hot water (2010 turned out to be the hottest year on record), and in the shallows the reefs had turned a ghostly white. This was the most extreme coral bleaching we had ever seen since we started our studies there in 1998.

Resilient Coral

A coral reef in near Bocas del Toro, Panama recovers from a mass bleaching event that occurred in the summer of 2010. The tops contain some bleaching, but the sides look healthy. Smithsonian marine biologist Dr.

Corals Threatened by Acid Seas

Much of the carbon dioxide we emit into the atmosphere ends up in the ocean. As CO₂ levels rise, seawater becomes more acidic. This change in chemistry poses a serious threat to marine organisms including snails, corals (shown above) and fish.

Seven New Fish Discovered

Starksia blennies, small fish with elongated bodies, generally native to shallow to moderately deep rock and coral reefs in the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific oceans, have been well-studied for more than 100 years. It would have been reasonable to assume that there was little about the group left to discover. Using modern genetic analysis combined with traditional examination of morphology, scientists discovered that what were once thought to be three species of blenny are actually 10 distinct species.

Coral Forests of the Deep Ocean

Corals are not only found in shallow tropical waters, but in cold, dark, deep areas of the sea. Amazing coral forests are found at depths of 60-3,050 meters (200-10,00 feet). They support an abundance of marine life but are in peril from threats such as ocean acidification and bottom trawl fishing. Learn more in the multimedia feature "Coral Gardens of the Deep Sea."

No Fouling Around

Since the dawn of seafaring, humankind has had to deal with the pesky creatures that settle on ships—seaweeds, barnacles, and others that take advantage of the empty real estate provided by a clean hull. Fouled hulls make for slower speeds and for powerboats, higher fuel costs (drag is a drag).

NMNH Paleobiology Curator Ian Macintyre

Ian G. Macintyre, Curator of Carbonate Sedimentology, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles

The Aldabra Atoll site in the Seychelles was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1982. The site is comprised of a coral reef surrounding four large coral islands, which enclose a shallow lagoon.

Great Barrier Reef, Australia

The Great Barrier Reef site in Australia was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1981. The site is the world’s most extensive stretch of coral reef with probably the richest animal diversity anywhere. There are over 1,500 species of fish, about 400 types of coral, 4,000 types of mollusk (including the small giant clam, Tridacna maxima, pictured here), and a diverse assemblage of sponges, anemones, marine worms, crustaceans, and many other invertebrate and vertebrate species.

Komodo National Park, Indonesia

The Komodo National Park site in Indonesia was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1991. The site hosts “Komodo dragons” (Varanus komodoensis), a unique species that exists nowhere else in the world and is of great interest to scientists studying evolution. The rugged hillsides of dry savannah and pockets of thorny green vegetation contrast starkly with the brilliant white sandy beaches and blue coral-rich waters offshore.

A Tale of Sex and Stress in the Ocean

Welcome to Citizens of the Sea, a new blog series where ocean life comes to life. Our book by the same name came out in September, but no sooner had it gone off to the printer than new ocean stories started streaming in. So every other week, we’ll use this series to explore some interesting aspect of marine life forms and their weird and wonderful ways of getting by.

The Smithsonian Community Reef

Local crafters who contributed to the Smithsonian Community Reef proved that there is no limit to the colorful reef forms that can be created using hyperbolic crochet techniques. Their wildly imaginative pieces are on display alongside the main installation of the Institute For Figuring’s Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History from October 16, 2010 to April 24, 2011.

When Art Meets Science: The Hyberbolic Crochet Coral Reef

The “Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef,” a unique exhibition and thought-provoking fusion of science, conservation, mathematics, and art, is on display in Washington, D.C., at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. By engaging local communities to crochet coral reefs, the exhibition celebrates the reefs' beautiful diversity and speaks to the urgent need to protect these vanishing ecosystems.

Crochet Jellyfish

Corals are just one of the many marine life forms that can be modeled in crochet. Jellyfish, like the one pictured here, starfish, sea snails, and kelp are some of the other organisms that contributors to the Institute For Figuring’s Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef have created over time.

The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef

The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef, created by Margaret and Christine Wertheim of the Institute For Figuring, weaves together strands of art, science, mathematics, and conservation. This beautiful installation has traveled around the world, and in many locations has been exhibited alongside a “satellite” reef created by the local community.

Coral Reefs Need You

For those of you who have had the opportunity to visit a coral reef, you know that it’s an experience you are unlikely to forget.

Coral reefs are among the world’s most magnificent ecosystems. Their beauty alone makes them incalculably valuable, but beyond aesthetics, their importance to both marine life and humans is immense.

Star of the Reef: One Species at a Time

Each month, the Naked Oceans podcast invites a leading marine researcher to pick the "critter of the month" by asking: if you were a marine organism, which one would you be? This month, Dr. Nancy Knowlton, the Sant Chair for Marine Science at NMNH makes her pick: the Caribbean boulder star coral (Montastrea cavernosa). Catch to the full podcast (and more episodes) on the Naked Oceans website.

Coral Head Near Pearl and Hermes Atoll

Papahānaumokuākea, a chain of islands northwest of the main Hawaiian archipelago, is home to vibrant coral reefs with scores of fish species. It was designated a Marine World Heritage Site in August 2010.

A Mosaic of Ocean Habitats: A Video by National Geographic and the Census of Marine Life

From the open ocean to coastal tidepools, from the fantastic to the familiar, a mosaic of marine habitats provides homes, feeding and spawning grounds, and seasonal destinations for ocean species. Census of Marine Life scientists studied these habitats and the creatures that call them home, in a ten-year inventory of the sea.  Explore some of the habitats that they studied in this video.

Shallow Coral Reef Foraminifers

In this photo of a shallow coral reef in the Pacific there are three species of forams. On the left, Peneroplis planatus. In the center, Amphistegina lessonii.

Podcast of Life/Box Jellies

The Ocean Portal and the Encyclopedia of Life have teamed up to bring you the Podcast of Life. Learn how three fiery, painful stings during an early morning swim in Hawaii changed the life of researcher Angel Yanagihara. Once the young biochemist had recovered from her box jelly encounter, Carybdea alata had her full attention. Now she works to unlock the secrets of venom of these beautiful, and sometimes dangerous, angels of the sea.

Sea Cucumber: One Species at a Time

What reef animal comes in a rainbow of crazy colors, can throw out its stomach to immobilize predators, then creep away and regrow a brand-new stomach? It’s the sea cucumber, prized as a gastronomic delight by some cultures and beginning to yield some of its secrets to scientists. Follow Podcast of Life host Ari Daniel Shapiro from Chinatown to the reefs of Fiji to learn more about these amazing creatures.

Sea Anemone

If you don’t like purple, you can look for this anemone (Condylactis sp.) in green. It comes in different colors and brightens a variety of Caribbean reef habitats, from lagoons to deeper waters.

Scallop

Portrait of a scallop with black and white striped lips, whose shell is encrusted with a red sponge.

What Is Coral? A Coral Polyp and Zooxanthellae

What are corals? Corals themselves are animals. But tropical reef-building corals have tiny plant-like organisms living in their tissue. The corals couldn’t survive without these microscopic algae–called zooxanthellae (zo-zan-THELL-ee). This cutaway diagram of a coral polyp shows where the photosynthetic algae, or zooxanthellae, live—inside the polyp’s tissue. The coral gives the algae a home. In return, the algae provide the coral with food.

Kingman’s Reef, Line Islands

This photo of Kingman’s Reef in the Line Islands shows what a healthy coral reef should look like. The water is crystal clear. A variety of richly colored corals carpet the seabed. And a native predator, a red snapper, prowls for prey.

Bleached Corals, Pacific Ocean

Compare the healthy coral on the left with the bleached coral on the right. Increased water temperatures caused the bleached coral to lose the microscopic algae that give the coral color and provide it with food. More about coral reef ecosystems can be found in the Coral Reefs section.

Coral Reef on Gangga Island, Indonesia

Corals, sponges, and algae are the major components of most coral reef communities. To the untrained eye, they are sometimes difficult to tell apart. More about coral reef ecosystems can be found in the Coral Reefs section.

Coral Reef in the Florida Keys

Coral reefs provide food for swarms of fish, both large and small. More about coral reef ecosystems can be found in our Coral Reefs featured story.

Coral Reef Watch Satellite

A Coral Reef Watch satellite monitors the temperature of the world’s oceans. When ocean waters get too hot, corals release the microscopic algae that provide them with color and, more importantly, food. Without the algae, the corals turn white—or bleach—and may die. More about coral reef ecosystems can be found in our Coral Reefs featured story.

Close-up of a Coral Polyp

In this close-up photo, you can actually see the photosynthetic algae, or zooxanthellae, living inside a tiny coral polyp. Look for the brownish-green specks in the colorless polyp. Corals depend on these algae for food and for some of their oxygen. To learn more about coral reefs, explore our featured ecosystem Coral Reefs.

Exploring a Reef

A scuba diver explores elkhorn corals (Acropora palmata) growing on a tropical reef. Coral reefs provide recreation and inspiration for millions of people every year. Elkhorn coral is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species.

Indonesian Coral Reef

A variety of organisms make their home on this tropical coral reef in Indonesia. More about coral reef ecosystems can be found in the Coral Reefs section.

Squat Lobster

This brightly colored squat lobster collected in Moorea is a common find among the coral heads. Although called lobsters, this group of crustaceans is more closely related to hermit crabs than to true lobsters.

Learn about why this squat lobster was collected in our Scientists Catalogue Life on the Island of Moorea section. 

Diving in Guam

Dr. Valerie Paul is studying chemical defenses that may protect coral reefs from many species of herbivores that live on coral reefs. In this picture she is examining tropical seaweeds on northwestern Guam’s coral reefs. Dr. Paul is the director of the Smithsonian Marine Station (SMS) at Fort Pierce, Fla. 

Cauliflower Coral - Pocillopora

This piece of pocillopora, or cauliflower coral, would normally have a rigid outer skeleton, but researchers dissolved it to expose the coral’s tissue and take a sample for DNA analysis.

Coral Reef

Built by living organisms, coral reefs are a dazzling mosaic of colors and textures, pulsing with activity. More about coral reef ecosystems can be found in our Coral Reefs featured story.

Reef Rescue: Protect Coral Reefs with Your Actions

Coral reefs are beautiful, vibrant ecosystems that house roughly one quarter of all marine species and provide billions of dollars in products and services to humans each year. But they are also vulnerable to human activities – both direct disturbances and small, indirect effects that build up over time. More than 20 percent of tropical reefs worldwide have been destroyed and are unlikely to recover. But there is hope. Whether you’re on the reef or far inland, there are things you can do to help protect this precious ecosystem. Here are some ideas to get started:

Fireworm Takes on Fire Coral

This bearded fireworm (Hermodice carunculata) must have a strong stomach -- it’s sucking on fire coral (Millepora sp.), which would give the unlucky snorkeler a nasty sting. Encountered in St. John, US Virgin Islands, the worm in this photo is about 15 cm (6 inches) long, but they can get up to twice that length.

Unhealthy Coral Reef, Kiritimi, Line Islands

Algae has overtaken this coral reef off heavily populated Kiritimati, or Christmas Island. Few fish swim in the murky waters. The causes include pollution, overfishing, and increased water temperature. More about coral reef ecosystems can be found in our Coral Reefs featured story.

Seamounts, A Deep-Sea Habitat

Thousands of seamounts—most of them undersea volcanoes—tower above the muddy seafloor. They provide something hard to come by in the deep ocean: a solid surface to cling to. This photo gallery shows some of the organisms that have found a suitable home on seamounts. 

Manning Seamount Deep Coral Communities

Colorful corals and brittlestars inhabit the Manning Seamount in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of New England. Here you can see golden-colored coral (Enallopsamia rostrata), pinkish-brown coral (Solenosmilia variabilis), pink soft coral (Candidella imbricate), and brittlestars (Ophiacantha sp.).

Carbonate Reef (Cretaceous Period: 145 - 65 Million Years Ago)

This illustration shows the edge of a warm inland sea during the Cretaceous Period, heyday of the dinosaurs. Constantly shifting sediment supported new groups of organisms, including rudist clams—major molluscan reef builders. Various organisms have taken a turn as the dominant tropical reef builders. Visit a tropical reef today and you’ll see coral. But if you visited during the Cretaceous Period, you might have seen reefs built by mollusks: rudist clams.

Bizarre and Beautiful Coral Reef Animals

Coral reefs support an amazing array of life forms many of them beautiful, some of them downright bizarre. Dive in and take a look through this photo gallery.

Nudibranch

The feathery strands at the back of this nudibranch’s (Chromodoris willani) body are no mere adornment. They’re its gills! Nudibranchs are shell-less snails. This species is from the tropical Western Pacific Ocean. More about coral reef ecosystems can be found in the Coral Reefs section.

Visit the Line Islands with Reef Ecologist Dr. Stuart Sandin

A number of questions have inspired marine ecologist Stuart Sandin to head to the coral reefs of the Line Islands. Sandin works at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. In this video he explains why the structure of coral reefs matters and how human activity can impact it. 

Caution! Do Not Bleach

Students learn why coral reefs are important, and what possible explanations are for the phenomenon known as “coral bleaching.”

For more information about NOAA Ocean Service, visit http://oceanservice.noaa.gov.

Keeping Watch on Coral Reefs

Students learn why coral reefs are important, and what can be done to protect them from major threats.

For more information about NOAA Ocean Service, visit http://oceanservice.noaa.gov.

Coral Conservation

Students will learn about the natural and human threats to coral reefs including destructive fishing practices.

For more information about the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program, visit http://coralreef.noaa.gov.

Life of a Coral Reef Fish

To synthesize a lesson on coral reefs, students write first person narratives as though they were reef organisms including their daily lives and the threats facing themselves and their communities.

Symbiosis and Coral Anatomy

Students read and then present to the class about different types of symbiosis. They are then introduced through a PowerPoint presentation to the coral-zooxanthellae relationship. For more information about the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program, visit  http://coralreef.noaa.gov.

4th Grade Moorea Coral Reef LTER Education Curriculum

These life science lessons and activities are about food chains and ecosystems and include “Food Chain Hide and Seek,” “Connected Ecosystems” and “In Hot Water.” For more information and to download the lesson plans and activities, go to http://mcr.lternet.edu/education/.

Expedition to the Line Islands

Remotely located in the central Pacific Ocean, south of Hawaii, the Line Islands provide a remarkable research opportunity. The archipelago includes coral reefs reflecting the whole spectrum of environmental conditions—from degraded to pristine. Some islands are heavily populated, with reefs severely damaged by fishing and pollution. Others are uninhabited, with reefs virtually intact.