I know September is a bit far from todays date but I wanted to give everyone a heads up!!
We will be having a speaker from the Milford Aquarium giving a presentation on Coral Reefs of Florida and Carribean
Some of his topics:
Types of coral reefs –
Fringing reef: type most prevalent in Florida & Caribbean waters, covering the marine life, from the shoreline, reef flat, reef crest to the reef front & deep reef
Reef flat – (From the shore), seagrass meadow& a few of its inhabitants, upside-down jellyfish (Cassiopeia), Tube-dwelling anemones (Cerianthid anemones), Sea pansy (Renilla), small corals such as Finger coral (Porites), non-reef building corals – (Orange-cup coral & others), bony & cartilaginous fishes (Yellow-headed jawfish, Gold-spotted eel & many others)
Requirements for reef-building corals: – boulder corals, branching corals, soft corals
Anemones, zoanthids, sponges….tube worms, etc
The reef at night
Symbiotic relationships
Deep water corals
Corals in peril! Causes. (In 2015, it is estimated that coral bleaching affected 38% of the world’s coral reefs)