Coral Reefs on Pitara Kids Network

An Organism that is visible from Space

Sat, 10 Aug 2002 10:30:36 +0000

The elephant is the largest land animal. The Blue whale is the largest sea animal. But however big these animals may be, they can not size up to the colonies built by tiny little sea creatures – the coral. The colonies built by corals are called coral reefs. Coral reefs can be as huge as big islands or even as big as a country!

These reef-building corals are not single animals. A coral is a colony made up of many individual animals called polyps. These are connected to each other.

The Great Barrier Reef

Thu, 19 Feb 1998 04:20:42 +0000

The Great Barrier Reef [Illustration by Shinod A.P.]

The Great Barrier Reef, which lies off the coast of Australia, is the world’s largest coral reef. It stretches 2010 kilometres along the north-east coast of Australia. Many kinds of corals grow here. Some pink, some orange, some bright blue and some yellow.

It is like a great underwater garden. Bright coloured fishes and plants live around the turquoise waters of the reef. The starfish are the reef’s most dangerous enemies and they cannot be destroyed.

Vast Coral Reef in South-East Asia May Disappear by End of Century, Warns WWF Report

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:14:18 +0000

Where: Manado, Indonesia

May 14, 2009 : The World Ocean’s Conference, a two-day meeting of ministers and officials from more than 80 countries was held in Manado, Indonesia. Rising sea levels, warming waters and increased acidity caused by global warming were some of the major issues discussed here.

A World Wildlife Fund report released to coincide with the conference reveals that the coral reefs stretching across south-east Asia will disappear by the end of the century. This area is known as the Coral Triangle, and is home to 3,000 fish species. Deforestation, coastal reclamation, destructive fishing and the pumping of pollution and sewage into sea over the last 40 years have already destroyed about 40 per cent of these coral reefs.