Coral+Reef+Home

 Welcome to the Coral Reef Homepage! By: Hannah P, Erin B , and Audrey S. Welcome to the wonderful world of Coral Reefs. These webpages will tell you everything you need to know about this awesome biome!

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 Coral Reefs are ridgelike or moundlike structures composed of corals and other aquatic organisms, occurring in shallow water along some subtropical and tropical shorelines. Coral Reefs are classified into three types: barrier reefs, fringing reefs, and atolls. Barrier reefs occur offshore separated by water from the mainland. Fringing reefs are continuous with the land mass, and atolls are islands made of coral surrounding a central lagoon. =====

Location:
Coral Reefs are located in the tropical oceans of the world. These oceans are located near the equater. The Great Barrier Reef, the worlds largest coral reef, is located in Australia. Coral reefs are located in three primary regions between 20 degrees N and 20 degrees S of the equator: the Indo-Pacific, the Western Atlantic, and the Red Sea. The Indo-Pacific region stretches from southeast Asia through Polynesia and Australia, eastward across the Indian Ocean to Africa. This is the largest and richest assemblage of reefs in terms of coral and fish species present. The Western Atlantic region stretches from Florida to Brazil, including Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Caribbean, Belize and the Gulf of Mexico. The Red Sea is the smallest of the three regions, located between Africa and Saudi Arabia. It is considered a separate region because of the high number of coral reef life found only in this area. Based upon geographic distribution, 60% of the world's reefs are found in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea, 25% are located in the Pacific Ocean, and 15% in the Caribbean.

Climate:
The uppermost layer of the world's oceans is bathed in sunlight during the daytime. This bright ocean layer is called the sunlit zone or the Euphotic Zone (euphotic means "well lit" in Greek) or the epipelagic zone (epipelagic means "upon the sea"). The depth of this zone depends on the clarity or murkiness of the water. In clear water, the euphotic zone can be quite deep; in murky water, it can be only 15 m. On average, it extends to about 200 m; the depth of the ocean averages about 4,000 m. The temperature in this zone ranges from 40 to -2.77 degrees Celsius.

The middle layer of the world's oceans receives only faint, filtered sunlight during the daytime. This is because the seawater absorbs the sunlight. This barely-lit ocean layer is called the twilight zone or the disphotic zone (disphotic means "poorly lit" in Greek) or the mesopelagic zone (mesopelagic means "middle sea"). This zone appears deep blue to black in color. The depth of this zone depends on the clarity or murkiness of the water. In clear water, the disphotic zone can begin at depths up to 122 m. In murky water, it can start at only 15 m deep. It is usually begins somewhere between these two extremes. The disphotic zone extends to about 1,000 m deep (this is where the aphotic zone begins). On average, this zone extends from 200 to 1,000 m. In the disphotic zone, there is enough light to see during the day, but not enough light for photosynthesis to take place, so no plants live in this zone. The amout of light decreases with depth. Because of this, food is not abundant.The water in the disphotic zone is cold (the temperature ranges from 5 to 3.88 degrees Celsius) and decreases with depth. The pressure is high -- it can be up to 1,470 psi (pounds per square inch) and increases with depth. The amount of dissolved oxygen in the water is less than in the sunlit zone.

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