Atelier of the Ocean

Hello everyone!! Hope you all doing good.. So.. what you guys think about our surroundings?? In my sense, it is a bulk of wondrous things. Today also I'm going to tell about a such thing.

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Have you seen corals? The stone like, colorful piece of work. Are they plants, animals, or something else? In point of fact, what we see as corals, are the protective shell of small, animals called 'polyps'.
Concisely, after fertilization the larvae of the polyp swim continuously and settle down on a hard substrate, under the fitting conditions to their growth. Then they increase their number by budding and thousands of coral polyps create a colony. As their armour, they construct a cup shaped skeleton from Calcium carbonate. A coral consist with thousands of such skeletal cups.

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If they are made up from Calcium carbonate, how they become so colorful? As we all know, Calcium carbonate is white in color. It cause by the microscopic algae who live inside the tissue of the tiny polyps. Actually, they are in a symbiotic relationship. Microscopic algae called 'zooxanthellae' do photosynthesis and accomplish the food and oxygen demand of the polyps. In return, they get a home with protection. As the corals live in shallow water, zooxanthellae get adequate light for the photosynthesis. The color come from these photosynthetic pigments, that found inside the zooxanthellae.
Also there are white corals, not actually white in color they are bleached. Some tragic such as high temperature, pollution, too much sunlight, and careless boating, and diving can stress the organism live in the coral. Specially in high temperature, zooxanthellae become stressed and leave their host. This cause the discoloration of corals namely bleaching. But they are not dead. If corals recolonize from the zooxanthellae within few months or weeks they can survive. If not, they die because of the lack of supplies.

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Do you know?? Modern studies have discovered that the chemicals included in sun creams and other products also can lead to the coral bleaching. So.. don't use such things whenever you go to the water.
Do all little things that you can do, to save the environment, to save life and to save ourselves. Good bye till the next time.. Stay safe ❤❤