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What is 1,400 miles long, and is home to 3000 types life (including the great white shark?) This month’s release of Coral Reef by Tinybop inspired us to take a deeper dive into these amazing natural wonders. Test your knowledge…
1. Besides warm, clean saltwater, what does every reef need to survive? At coral.org http://bitly.com/2oMzBs5 you learn that light is the key ingredient. A reef can only exist in water less than 165 feet deep.
2. What is a coral polyp, and why should you care? They are tiny organisms that are the building blocks of a free. A cathedral is made of millions individual bricks. The polyp is the “brick” of the reef. Related to anemones and jellyfish, they collect calcium that becomes the reef. Learn more at National Geographic http://on.natgeo.com/2HWGI9T.
3. What is largest living organism in the world? It’s the Great Barrier Reef. It takes up more area than the country of Italy, and is 1400 miles long. It is off the coast of Australia and can be seen from space. Here are some more amazing facts about the reef http://bit.ly/2I368Ty and here’s what it looks like from space, via Google Maps https://goo.gl/maps/z9pBtCAu45t.
4. Do sharks live around reefs? Yes. And so do whales. In fact there are over 3000 fish species that call a reef their home. In Sport Diver magazine, we found some amazing diver photos http://bitly.com/2oMGTvP.
5. Can a reef die? Yes. According to the National Ocean Service things like global warming can stress kill coral, causing them to bleach. Learn more at http://bitly.com/2HWWpy1.
APPLICATION
1. Set up a salt water fish tank. It might be hard to grow a reef, but you can buy some living samples for as cheap as $5, http://bitly.com/2HXEZRM. We found this EVO saltwater kit on Amazon.com with LEDs for the coral light, at http://amzn.to/2I3aFp2.
2. Take a virtual dive. Google has done the work, by applying it’s “street view” technology to an underwater diver. The result is a virtual tour of a ship wreck in the Great Barrier Reef. Here’s the link http://bitly.com/2oLV4Bp
3. Send a question to Nancy Knowlton. She works at the Smithsonian as a marine biologist, and her job is to increase public understanding of the world’s ocean. Her email is knowlton@si.edu.
