Coral Lecture

We have a new naturalist on board from Australia, Jessica Whitaker. Erik says she is less preachy. She talked continuously, with a lot of information that was very educational and interesting. I liked her but I do miss Shannon. Shannon was a fun presenter. Jessi (as she goes by), I would say is more like a professor when she presents information. I do love how both do their PowerPoint presentations, with the videos.

Today was all about different types of corals and things that eat and kill coral. I learned that coral likes to overtake other coral and you can witness their fights if you see a white line between them or on one close to another one. They are looking at taking up the most space. Some fish like triggerfish will eat coral. Snails will eat coral and so will some spiny sea stars, which I have already forgotten what they are called. If you touch their tentacles three times, you can develop an allergy to them and then if you're ever touched by it again, Jessi said you'll have an interesting trip to the hospital. Yikes. They are also very invasive and are known to kill large quantities of coral because they can consume so much of it.

I didn't mention it but coral comes in both soft and hard types. The harder coral has more of the skeleton feature where the soft coral looks more jelly-like. I think I mentioned it in a previous post but coral develops it's coloring from an algae. When coral stars to turn fluroscent, it actually means it's going to go through a bleaching and during bleaching the coral will expel the algae which is why it turns white. Coral is naturally white or translucent and the algae is what gives it its colors. So, when you see brown coral, it is not dead. The brown is the algae. Algae is good for coral because that's where the coral gets most of its food from.

There are also underwater museums, which perked my ears up. I want to go to one!

I would love to volunteer to go check out a section of a reef and study it and take notes on any changes or anything of significance at all.

Also, Sonia might have slept through most of this. I totally get it. I don't feel good either, and the way this lady spoke could have put me to sleep, too. Now that it's over, it is nap time!もっと詳しく