珊瑚礁(英语:Coral reef)是石珊瑚目的动物形成的一种结构。这个结构可以大到影响其周围环境的物理和生态条件。在深海和浅海中均有珊瑚礁存在,珊瑚礁形成的地质结构,甚至还构成了陆地上的岛屿。它们是成千上万个珊瑚虫的骨骼在数百年至数万年的生长过程中形成的。珊瑚是地球生态的重要一员,造礁作用为许多动植物提供了生活环境,其中包括蠕虫、软体动物、海绵、棘皮动物和甲壳动物等,估计占海洋物种数的25%[1][2],因此还有时被称作“海洋的热带雨林”[3]。此外珊瑚礁还被发现是许多大洋带的鱼类的幼鱼与其猎物的生长地,可以说没有健康的珊瑚礁,远洋渔业的海中生态也将不复存在。
资料来源:https://zh.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%8F%8A%E7%91%9A%E7%A4%81
A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups.
Coral belongs to the class Anthozoa in the animal phylum Cnidaria, which includes sea anemones and jellyfish. Unlike sea anemones, corals secrete hard carbonate exoskeletons that support and protect the coral. Most reefs grow best in warm, shallow, clear, sunny and agitated water. Coral reefs first appeared 485 million years ago, at the dawn of the Early Ordovician, displacing the microbial and sponge reefs of the Cambrian.[1]
Sometimes called rainforests of the sea,[2] shallow coral reefs form some of Earth's most diverse ecosystems. They occupy less than 0.1% of the world's ocean area, about half the area of France, yet they provide a home for at least 25% of all marine species,[3][4][5][6] including fish, mollusks, worms, crustaceans, echinoderms, sponges, tunicates and other cnidarians.[7] Coral reefs flourish in ocean waters that provide few nutrients. They are most commonly found at shallow depths in tropical waters, but deep water and cold water coral reefs exist on smaller scales in other areas.
Coral reefs deliver ecosystem services for tourism, fisheries and shoreline protection. The annual global economic value of coral reefs is estimated between US$30–375 billion[8][9] and US$9.9 trillion.[10] Coral reefs are fragile, partly because they are sensitive to water conditions. They are under threat from excess nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), rising temperatures, oceanic acidification, overfishing (e.g., from blast fishing, cyanide fishing, spearfishing on scuba), sunscreen use,[11] and harmful land-use practices, including runoff and seeps (e.g., from injection wells and cesspools).
珊瑚的图片:
资料来源:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_reef
关于珊瑚的视频:https://youtu.be/ZiULxLLP32s
https://youtu.be/Xm4PxzTa4Io