A coral reef is home to odd and beautiful species. By day, rainbow schools of fish weave in and out of sea fans and coral heads. By night, a light will reveal neon-colored creatures scuttling across the ocean floor. Residents range from sharks to eels to rays and shrimp to the organisms of the reef itself. A reef is a system of interrelated creatures who depend on each other to balance the environment.
The spotted eagle ray is a reef dweller that actually sails over the reefs and across open water in schools and can leap out of the water when pursued, most often by sharks. It has a smooth white underside and a dark topside speckled with light or white circles or rings. The ray is a graceful swimmer, appearing to undulate over the sandy sea floor or beneath the surface of the water. It is not harmful to humans unless disturbed—near the tail are sharp spines that can be whipped around to deliver a nasty and poisonous blow. The ray eats oysters, shrimp, octopus, squid, sea urchins, clams and fish, crushing its prey to get at the soft flesh. It is a near-threatened species and is fished for oil and collected for aquariums.
Florida spiny lobsters are smaller than Maine lobsters and have forward-facing sharp spines that protect them from predators. They have two cream-colored dots on their tail, wavy antennae over eyes suspended on stalks and are easy to identify. The lobsters live in the cracks and crevices of the coral reef. They are nocturnal feeders on urchins, crabs, shrimp and clams. Their habitat is the Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.
Sea urchins are important for keeping reef algae in balance and exist mostly as vegetarians that dine on the macro algae of the warm water coral reefs they favor. They are round animals, related to starfish, with a single mouth in the center of their underside and long black spines. If you step on a sea urchin the spines will break off inside your foot and crumble--extremely painful and hard to treat. Sea urchins tend to hide in reef crevices by day and feed at night. They are prized as a food delicacy and humans are one of their most serious predators.
Coral itself is an animal. It lives in a community of calcium-carbonate-producing organisms that form individual coral pieces and reefs. Development of a reef takes thousands of years, but it is fragile and can be destroyed in moments by a ship’s anchor or grounding, pollution or an oil spill. The Florida reefs form the third-largest living coral reef system in the world. Nearly microscopic, anemone-like polyps are the living tissue of the reef and support tiny organisms that feed on zooplankton and perform photosynthesis. A coral reef is a symbiosis of living organisms that are dependent upon each other and, ultimately, the reef’s other marine inhabitants for survival.
