Story Around the Wonderful World of Corals

Corals are special to our lives; they give us when alive as well as on their death. Corals are at the centre of biodiversity. Many solid elements allow us to stand, sit on or sleep on. Earth is the most common but we may rest on sand hill, mountain top or tree. Corals provide us the same solid base to stand on as earth when it dies. When it lives it gives shelter, protection and food to many living things. Coral reefs offer multiple benefits to people and the economy - providing food, sustaining livelihoods, supporting tourism, protecting coasts, and even helping to prevent diseases. India has many coral coasts and coral areas. Lakshadweep is the largest among them. The coral reef in and around Lakshadweep has fascinated us. A travel in the remote islands and visit among the corals was an unique experience. The article deals with all aspects of coral kingdom including the islands. Not only facts and figures, it tells the story of travel and more; what happened on the way and in between; adventurous from the beginning to the end.


India
Travelling around Lakshadweep residents of the landwonderment waits for you in water Towards the evening while sailing in a ship in the ocean vast and deep some strange sights attracted us. Suddenly some bird like animals started flying above the surface water emerging from below the depth and after flying some distance fell on the water again to be sunk in it. Did some of them fly over the sky? Flying fishes dazzling like silver sheets in the dying rays of the sun increased our attention and curiosity. Strange but a fun to observe. www.ijohmn.com 51 the greatest occasions for feasting the eyes on the colours of the sea. Here it is turquoise there aquamarine, still farther as one looks it is sapphire and amethyst, almost touching the blue of the sky. The water soon becomes greenish yellow and yonder it is blue-black again.
The sand below our feet, actually the pounded coral reef, is softer than usual sand; very soothing. colour splashed over the sky and sea-looking at each other The water of the sea, somewhere transparent somewhere opaque according to the depth, invited us for kayaking. One of the colourful fiberglass boats with oars and life jackets, available aplenty on the shore, was taken for a ride by two of us for kayaking around the jetty and sometimes beyond. It was a fun and pleasure to kayak, to splash water on each other while passing alongside the swimming big-bodied hawksbill turtles as our

Spawning and Spilling
Coral spawning is a magnificent phenomenon in the seas after the full moon nights.
Corals release male and female spawns and together they form the larvae. It's a mass collective expulsion of colourful eggs and sperm clouds into the water by corals; a result of coral sex. It is a usual annual occurrence. During spawning the eggs are fertilised and form Spawning normally happens when the water is warm, and when the tide is changing from high to low.
"Different species spawn at different times and follow different patterns," said Dr Choudhury, "Much more research needs to be done to understand the process clearly." 2 Dr Alasdair Edwards, professor at Newcastle University, UK, said that while it has been spotted much earlier than expected, "We expect corals to spawn a week after full moon nights in March . . . or April . . ." he said, "This event also shows that corals spawn in day as well, though not as common as at night." 3 Coral spawning is a big tourist attraction in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, where it generally happens soon after the full moon in November or December. In the Maldives, spawning has been scientifically determined to take place between the end of January and the

Born to die they thrive in the lap by the Corals
Many more are the fishes and other aquatic animals that live around coral islands and reefs in different parts of the globe but the following, though common in other areas also, are particularly present in Lakshadweep.
each is different from the otherbiodiversity

Gentle Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas)
Green sea turtles are confined to the warm tropical waters of both the hemispheres. It is available in the entire east and west coast. Lakshadweep is their main nestling ground. It grows over a metre in length and weighs up to 155 kg.

Colourful Blue Sea Star (Linckia laevigata)
This elegant sea fish is available in shallow lagoon waters. It is abundant in Minicoy and Kalpeni islands, parts of Lakshsdweep. Besides blue it has brown, light blue and red colours also in some species.

Redfin Butterfly fish (chaetodon trifasciatus) can swim and fly
Redfin is the most common Butterfly fish. It can be seen in small aggregations feeding on coral polyps. The disc-like shape and extraordinary colours make them the most sought after aquarium fishes.

Beautiful Emperor Angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator-juvenile)
Emperor is a beautiful member of the angelfish family. It is seen single and in pairs in territorial sea and lagoons. The adult is not as shy as the juvenile in allowing proximity. It grows up to 40 cm feeding mostly on algal matter, tunicates and sponges.

Squids Hide
They have internal shells. Fast moving, it usually lives in deeper water but can be seen in shallow water of the reefs during breeding season. It usually camouflages; difficult to identify unless seen from a close quarter.

Subtle and Effective Christmas-tree worm (Spirobranchus giganteus)
The tentacles of the worm look like Christmas tree. These are used to capture food.
It is very sensitive to shadows and vibrations. Threatened, it pulls back itself into its tube and closes a 'trap door' over the top. A close relative of the earth worm, it can bore into massive corals like Porites Lutea.

Better Avoid Bubble Anemone (entacmae quadricolor)
Anemones are relatives of the corals but differ in structure and behaviour. A special disc at the bottom helps anemone to attach itself to the substrate. But it can move slowly over rocks and corals. Tentacles of the sea anemone have nematocysts which warn a contact with it. Bubble anemone is a beautiful large sea anemone. Its tentacles are transparent and bulbous at the tips.
It usually occurs in shallow lagoon water.

Stonefish (Synancela verrucosa): most dangerous on earth
With an ugly looks and shape it is the most venomous of fishes in the world. It is very common in reef flats. It grows up to 35 cm. Its dorsal fin contains venomous neurotoxin.
Coming in contact with this fish may endanger human life. It is best to avoid its contact.

Harmless Whitetip Reef Shark (Triaenodon obesus)
Smaller than Tiger or Grey Reef shark (225 cm), found in the deeper reef slope around Lakshadweep, it is most harmless. With interest and care one may enjoy its grace and swift movements in the sea. Large scale killing of pelagic sharks for fins is a danger to its conservation.

Don't provoke Black-blotched Moray Eel (Gymnothorax permistus)
Usually found sticking out its head from a cave or ledge, elegant looking, it grows

Autonomous soft bodied Sea Slugs are armed with weapons
Opisthobranchs or sea slug has been defined in the dictionary as any of a subclass of Opisthobranchia; a marine gastropod mollusc that have the gills when present posterior to the heart but often lack a shell.  Latest studies corroborate with the above views in the report but tells us about the development thereafter.
Actual harms were estimated to be lesser than this projection because of the absence of effects transmitted from and amplified by the neighbouring terrestrial environments.
Reefs are usually beyond the reach of the human population so the anthropogenic threat is

Concluding views about the Coral World
Many solid elements allow us to stand, sit on or sleep. Earth is the most common but we may rest on sand hill, mountain top or tree. Corals provide us the same solid base to stand on as earth when it dies. When it lives it gives shelter, protection and food to many living things.
Corals are at the centre of biodiversity. Coral reefs offer multiple benefits to people and the economy -providing food, sustaining livelihoods, supporting tourism, protecting coasts, even helping to prevent disease. According the report more than 275 million people live in the direct vicinity (30 km/18 miles) of coral reefs. In more than 100 countries and territories, coral reefs protect 150,000 km (over 93,000 miles) of shorelines, helping defend coastal communities and infrastructure against storms and erosion.
Corals are wonderful creation by Nature; creatures creating wonder world in oceans extended to earth. Around the coral reefs and beyond there are many famous and infamou s animals in the womb of brine water like dugong, dolphin, crocodile, gharial, hippopotamus, whale and innumerable fishes.