Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 59
The underwater world abounds with nested ecological niches. A pink anemone
fi sh,
Amphiprion perideraion
, retreats into the protection of the anemone
Heteractis magnifi ca
on this reef off the east coast of Malaysia. Were the anemones to disappear, the anemonefi sh
would be endangered unless they could swiftly adapt to a world that no longer offered such
protective havens.
Coral reefs do much better than fl oating organisms, even in such des-
ert waters. They thrive because they are built on a solid foundation of older
reefs. The coral polyps, aided by the algae that live inside them, gain energy
from the sun. They can also extract essential minerals from the older dead
polyp skeletons on which they rest, and from the drifting and swimming
plankton that they catch. The anchored polyps do well because they do not
need to expend much energy to catch these swimmers and drifters. They can
simply sit and wait, rather than being forced to swim around in the water and
frantically chase their prey.
The solid, highly structured bed of the coral reef provides endless oppor-
tunities for additional organisms to fi nd and occupy new ecological niches.
All these niches are ultimately based on the corals themselves.
On a typical reef, bumphead parrotfi sh crunch their way through cor-
als using strong lattice-like teeth. They then grind and digest the coral frag-
ments in their muscular stomachs. Other fi sh swim close to see what the
