Coral Reefs

Diversity

Diversity: The degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet.

Coral Reef Producers

Coral Reef fish ( Small Fish )

One example of a small coral reef fish is the goby species, a small coral reef-dwelling fish, is the world's shortest lived vertebrate, which lives for less than 60 days.

Another small coral reef fish is the dwarf sea horse. This is the slowest moving fish in the coral reefs which can attain about 5 feet per hour.

Coral Reef Fish ( Big Fish )

One example of a big reef fish would be the manta ray they are a huge example of diversity being one of the only fish that can almost fly!

A second example of a big reef fish is the Caribbean reef shark. Measuring up to 3 m (10 ft) long, the Caribbean reef shark is one of the largest apex predators in the reef ecosystem, feeding on a variety of fishes and cephalopods. They

have been documented resting motionless on the sea bottom or inside caves, unusual behavior for an active-swimming shark

Loss of Diversity

Distribution

Asian / Pacific Region

ATLANTIC REGION

GREAT BARRIER REEF

Estimated threat to coral reefs:

low

medium

high

Indian / African Region