By: Erika Jones

Coral Reef - A coral reef is a community of living organisms. It is made up of plants, fish, and many other creatures. Coral reefs are some of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. They are home to about 25% of all marine life.

Temperature range in degrees F and C: 16-30 degrees Celsius and 61-86 degrees Fahrenheit.

Coral reefs are located in tropical oceans near the equator. The largest coral reef is the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The second largest coral reef can be found off the coast of Belize, in Central America. Other reefs are found in Hawaii, the Red Sea, and other areas in tropical oceans.

They occupy less than 0.1% of the world's ocean surface, about half the area of France, yet they provide a home for 25% of all marine.

New research shows coral reefs are in steep decline, with half of the reef vanishing in the past 27 years. That overall 50-percent decline, they estimate, is a yearly loss of about 3.4 percent of the reef.

Coral reefs flourish even though they are surrounded by ocean waters that provide few nutrients.

Reefs in the Florida Keys, hold at least 45 species of stony coral, 37 species of octocoral, five species of sea turtles, 500 species of fish, about 1,700 species of mollusks and hundreds of species of sponges. In addition to their incredible value as wildlife habitat, coral reefs protect coastlines from storms and provide billions of dollars of food and jobs every year to people around the world.

Coral reefs deliver ecosystem services to tourism, fisheries and shoreline protection. The annual global economic value of coral reefs is estimated between US$ 29.8-375 billion. However, coral reefs are fragile ecosystems, partly because they are very sensitive to water temperature. They are under threat from climate change , oceanic acidification, blast fishing, cyanide fishing for aquarium fish, sunscreen use , overuse of reef resources, and harmful land-use practices, including urban and agricultural runoff and water pollution, which can harm reefs by encouraging excess algal growth

Are

Coral

Reefs In

Danger?

Sponges - Sponges are essential for the functioning of the coral reef's ecosystem. Algae and corals in coral reefs produce organic material.

Giant Clam - a clam that is the largest living mullusk. They can weigh more than 200 kilograms (440 lb), measure as much as 120 cm (47 in) across, and have an average lifespan in the wild of 100 years or more.

Caribbean reef squid -known as just the Reef Squid, is a small torpedo shaped squid with fins that extend nearly the entire length of the body and undulate rapidly as it swims. It can fly out of the water; a discovery which finally led to identification of six species of flying squid