WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: How Coral Reefs Work 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:03.960 Hey there, everybody, it's me Josh and for this week's 0:00:04.160 --> 0:00:07.240 s Y s K Selects, I've chosen how Coral Reefs 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:10.639 Work from two thousand twelve, I think March or two 0:00:10.680 --> 0:00:12.800 thousand twelve, and it's a good one. It's got a 0:00:12.800 --> 0:00:16.280 lot of science. There's a lot of interesting marine biology 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:19.239 to learn, and plus it's just good to get to 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:22.680 know this very rare form of life that we are 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:26.720 very rapidly erasing from the global biosphere. So I hope 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:30.720 you enjoy this very eye opening episode on coral reefs. 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:35.960 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from House Stuff Works 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:44.400 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:47.200 Clark with me as always as Charles W. Chuck Bryant, 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:51.199 and that makes this stuff you shouldn't know. So I 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:53.640 just noticed your cold is cleared up. Yeah a little bit. 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:58.000 I still have the the an interior lining and very 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:03.280 thick all right. The other than that, Yeah, you sound fine, 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:06.680 that's all. You know what it was tons of emergency 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:10.959 used to wash down tons of vitamin B stress, which 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:13.960 is like tons of just different vitamin b's. I eat 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:20.160 solar ray um and Scotch right single malt Scott just 0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:24.160 my secret ingredient um and lots of licene, A couple 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:27.920 of licenes every time, like thousands and thousands of percentages 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:31.680 of daily value. Like just it just makes the FDA 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:33.960 cringe that I take as much. That's what I do. 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:37.840 I just load up on like everything, like triple it. Yep, 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:40.800 there you go, take that body, So I'm fine. Good 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:44.319 now you has it? Oh does she the same exact thing? 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:48.360 And she doesn't like when I tell her to take vitamins? Yeah, 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:52.080 but that you know, you live together, you drink after 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:54.560 one another. Just suck face, just like I'll leave like 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:58.880 emergency here. They're like laying around. Oh did I leave that? Oops? 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:02.640 That's already dissolved the water even and it's going down 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:07.240 your gullet, um chuck. Yes, did you know that I 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:10.880 am a certified scuba diver? I sure did. Oh yeah 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:13.400 you did not thought for sure. You're gonna be like, no, 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:16.000 I didn't know. We've talked about this. Yeah, we've even 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:19.320 scuba dive together, haven't. That's right. That was the first 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:21.239 time I heard about it. I'm not the sharpest tack 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:25.040 in the package, um, but I say that to tell 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:28.480 you that I was certified at a place called Isla 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:32.560 Mueris off the coast of Cosumel, which just so happens 0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:35.480 to also be the home of the second largest barrier 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:40.400 reef known to man. What's it called to humans? I 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:43.919 don't know. It is not called anything, because there's the 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:46.120 great barrier reef and then there's all the other all 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:48.760 the other ones, but this is the second largest, which 0:02:48.800 --> 0:02:51.120 is pretty big. Because there's a lot of barrier reefs. 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:54.720 There's a lot of coral reefs in the world. But 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:58.280 after reading this article, I found that there is a 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:02.520 lot about coral reefs that I didn't know. Unfortunately, we 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:06.920 had Jennifer Horton, who I'm sure you'll remember worked at 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:08.600 the site for a while. Yeah, she's a great writer. 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:10.920 He's a great writer. We had. We had her to 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:14.000 explain it to us and like, I get coral reefs now. 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:18.639 In fact, Jennifer has written many of the animal related 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:24.520 podcasts that we've done, um Bison. I think maybe she 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:27.880 wrote a lot of the animal stuff, animal migration, lots 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:29.360 of good ones. To miss you, Jennifer, I hope you're 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:32.160 well if you listen. I wonder who were they? Right? 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:36.560 Remember those guys? I hated those two all right? Coral reefs. 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:39.400 This was all new to me. The rainforest of the 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:45.120 sea of the Equatorial Seas home to about of all 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:50.320 the species. Yeah, that's crazy. In fact, right, Um, the 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:55.360 Great Barrier Reef has more more kinds of coral um 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:59.080 on like one just single little outcropping of it, then 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:03.360 you'll find in the entire tropical area of the Atlantic Ocean. Wow. Yeah, 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:06.240 that's amazing. I don't know why I just said that. There. 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:08.440 The Aussies are gonna they're gonna be so stoked with 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:11.360 this podcast. Probably anytime they can like claim to something 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:16.040 like that, they're just like, yeah, yeah, drank exactly. They're 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:19.680 gonna go poor beer on the Great Barrier Reef. Um. 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:22.640 It's the coral reefs are very beneficial to humans in 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:27.240 a number of ways. Economically, sure, because there's a lot 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:31.159 of sea life and thus people fishing for shrimp and 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:33.320 lobster and things like that. Right, in all sorts of 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:36.159 weird ways which we'll get too later. Um. They also 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:40.680 protect the beach from erosion. They act as natural buffers 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:46.680 from huge waves wave action, that's right. Yeah, Well, let's 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:48.520 talk about that. Because you think of when you think 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:52.280 of coral, you think of huge you know Great Barrier Reef. 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:55.520 It's enormous. It's like, um, I think there's eighteen thousand 0:04:55.600 --> 0:05:00.520 miles total of coral face face that is on the 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:05.480 Great Barrier Reef. Actually, an individual coral called a polyp um, 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:10.640 is about three millimeters long. Yeah, that's small, super tiny 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:14.360 for those of you in America. Uh, they are, Well, 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:16.320 science got it wrong early on. We should go ahead 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:20.839 and say that they um at one point fairly uh 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:24.960 understandably thought that it might be plant life because it 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:26.880 sort of looks like it. Yeah, like you know, like 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:31.159 the coral fan. Yeah, that's a bunch of those little 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:34.839 three millimeter corals building up into a fan. It looks 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:36.560 like it looks like a plant. Yeah. So they got 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:39.240 it wrong, and they're actually not only are they real 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:43.599 living little sea creatures, but they're carnivores. Yeah, which is 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:45.719 you know, you would never think about that. No, but 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:53.039 they're in the phylum Sindaria Nideria. Why would they put 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:55.960 the sea there? It's silent, man, You know, I appreciate 0:05:56.000 --> 0:05:59.200 a silent letter. I'm smarter than my pronunciations would suggest. 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:02.640 I started looking this up because I feel like an idiot. 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:05.200 So they're in the phial of nydaria, which means um 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:10.600 that they have stinging cells, barbed stinging cells um called 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:13.800 ne maticist that's right. So um they use this to 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:16.400 capture their prey, but the prey kind of has to 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:19.360 come to them because they're also sessile, which means they're 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:26.040 fixed to a certain spot. Yeah seriously, Yeah, uh so 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:28.560 it is understandable also that they got it wrong because 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:33.400 coral has a unique property. It is almost half plant 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:37.279 because there's this algae in the cells. I want to 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:42.480 pronounce it, Okay, go ahead. It's called zus anthely, you're right, 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:46.039 very nice. Starts with a Z and there's an X 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:49.839 in there somewhere. And then so what happens with there's 0:06:49.960 --> 0:06:55.080 a very mutually beneficial relationship between the algae and the polyp. 0:06:55.200 --> 0:07:00.679 They do a little exchange the polyp itself, well supply, 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:04.760 I'm sorry. The algae will undertake photosynthesis, yes, as algae 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:07.839 tends to do. As algae will do, and it will say, hey, 0:07:08.080 --> 0:07:11.720 mr polyp, why don't you take all this stuff that 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:15.920 i've I've made within your cell walls and and convert 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:18.560 it to proteins and fats. It poops out like amino 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:21.960 acids and cards for the polyp, and in return, why 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:25.760 don't you give me a nice shelter, And you can 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:30.280 also produce some carbon and nitrates and pop fates that 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:33.160 I need to produce the photosynthesis to give you the 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:35.920 proteins and fats that you need. So it's what you 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:39.520 might call a symbiotic relationship. Exactly, one's helping the other. 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:42.600 And um, you can make the case that the coral 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:46.240 is getting the better end of the deal because coral 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:52.280 gets about the energy produced through photosynthesis by the zoos anthely, 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:56.560 right yeah, um, but that also makes the coral more 0:07:56.600 --> 0:08:00.720 dependent on the zoos anthely. And the zoos anthely it's 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:03.800 a algae of very little needs. It's not needy, it's 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:06.400 not grabby. It's not gonna call you up every Friday 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:10.160 night wondering what you're doing, Why you aren't here? Are 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:13.720 you talking about me? No? No, Jerry like that one. 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:18.880 So um. The the symbiotic relationship between the zuox anthely 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:23.760 and the coral polyps also produce coral reefs. Um. The 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:27.840 polyps use some of that energy, some of that amino acid, 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:32.760 to create something called calcium carbonate, and that's the hard stuff. Right, 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:37.320 that's limestone, my friend. Yeah. They produce limestone out of 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:40.600 their butt hawks to create a cup, a little shelter 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:43.240 for the polyp to stay in. And since the algae 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:47.000 stays in the polyp, it creates a shelter for both, right. Yeah, 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:50.080 and this limestone secretion can keep building and building and 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:54.840 building because again, coral stays in the same place there cecile. 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:59.280 That's right, and um as as long as they're still 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:02.599 secreting lime stone, the limestone structure they build will just 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:05.760 keep getting bigger and bigger. Eventually love it. That's just 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:09.440 one three millimeter long, coral. Yes, what you want to 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:13.600 do is get thousands together strengthened numbers. Yeah, then you 0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:17.079 have a coral fan yeah, or a colony, and then 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:21.040 those colonies will eventually meet up with other colonies uh 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:24.000 and say, hey, you guys interested in forming a wreef 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:28.840 because we're pretty indestructible, although that's not quite true. We're 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:31.880 more indestructible if we all hook up my brothers, like 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:35.800 you said, strengthened numbers, and when they hook up, their 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:41.400 limestone secretions can start to join together forming a reef. 0:09:41.800 --> 0:09:46.520 But they're also um connected by a thin piece of tissue. 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:51.559 You got this one called a seen a sark. That's 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:53.120 what I was gonna go for. I was just tired 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:55.480 of humiliating myself for this episode. I would have called 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:57.839 it a kna sark, So I was a way off. 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:00.400 I'm really glad to look that Celia canth it's a 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:05.840 scene of sark um. And that's how the the coral 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:09.840 themselves are through limestone secretions and through this tissue called 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:12.160 the sin of sark. They're connected, right, but how would 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:18.280 they grow? Well, there's two ways. Many they can reproduce. Yeah, 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:22.400 a couple of ways, so right, sexually or a sexually? 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:28.400 I know which one I choose. A sexual, Yeah, because 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:31.920 you're cloning. That's pretty remarkable. Anyone can just get together 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:37.200 and you know mate. Sexually, it's like here's some sperm 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:39.320 in another one's like here's some eggs, and then they 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:43.280 get together and then it's just it's no, there's not 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:45.840 much to it all, right. A Sexually, though, they actually 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:50.640 do divide and produce identical clones of themselves, and that's 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:52.720 one way they can grow. And the other way is 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:56.800 just to keep pooping out limestone and that will connect 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:58.280 with each other. And it just forms a big old 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:22.080 yummy wreath. M Um. This is not a fast process though. 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:24.360 Like if there's a couple of coral that are a 0:11:24.360 --> 0:11:28.920 few inches away, say three inches away, and they're like, 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:31.720 I would like to hook my sine a sark up 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:33.880 to your sine a sark and let's poop some limestone 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:36.160 I was together and get this reef going. That's beautiful. 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:38.400 It's gonna take them about a year to get together. 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:40.880 Can you imagine how frustrating that is to be three 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:43.480 inches away and be like, I'd really like to consummate this. 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:46.360 I'll see you next June. I'm not convinced that coral 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:49.640 can experience frustration. You don't think so, I don't. I 0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:53.440 think that's all they experience frustration. Either that or they're 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:56.760 like really really patient, but that three inches of growth 0:11:56.760 --> 0:12:01.679 a year um has to take place. They're very specific conditions. 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:07.160 Remember we said that coral reefs are in equatorial waters. Um, 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:11.600 not the coral themselves, but the zoos anthely are actually 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:16.040 very fickle and picky little organisms and they like specific 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:18.840 conditions and as long as the conditions are right for them, 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:22.040 then the coral can grow. Because remember the coral are 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:26.520 dependent on the zaxananthely to produce the calcium carbonate. That's right, Um, 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:29.800 so what are the conditions chuckers Well, you said equatorial, 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:33.680 specifically thirty degrees north or south. If you have ever 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:37.240 dived in the Bahamas and said, no, that's thirty two 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:40.680 degrees north and they have plenty there. It's because the 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:44.760 warm Gulf waters spitting out towards the Bahamas, which is 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:47.160 one reason the Bahamas is such a popular spot. I 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:50.840 would imagine, Yes, I've never been there. You no, my 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:55.480 folks drove my car back from the Bahamas. Thoughts you 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:58.199 had a car in the Bahamas, you're supposed to say, 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:01.320 you're kidding, You're kidding, I must be The Bahamas are islands. 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:05.280 It's a it's a dead milkman song. It's pitching camaro 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:07.679 Oh that's from Bittnick Camara. Yeah, it's the beginning. Jeez, 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:11.319 I'm a dummy. That's alright, Chuck. I'm not hip. I'm 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:14.440 not hipp either, Chuck. Sunlight is another thing that they 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:18.240 need because, and it makes sense if you're gonna undertake photosynthesis, 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:22.239 you need sun. So if the water is rich in nutrients, 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:24.959 believe it or not. That's not great for them because 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:27.080 if you've ever looked through if you've ever been under 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:29.719 water and seen like a lot of plankton everywhere it 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:33.640 filters the sunlight, it's dappled, that's right. And also, as 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:37.080 we learned later, UM, the more nutrients there are, the 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:41.120 more it will attract uh competition for those nutrients. And 0:13:41.160 --> 0:13:43.920 that's not good for me either. No, they don't like competitions. Basically, 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:49.240 they're just little prima donnas. Example, they are the water, 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:54.079 since you're near the equator, should be between seventy three 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:58.080 point four and eighty four point two degrees fahrenheit. And 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:00.480 I ultimately, if you put all these facts there together 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:03.760 ample like clear water and between seventy three and eighty 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:07.160 two or twenty three celsius and twenty nine celsius um, 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:09.680 you can get up to about ten centimeters or three 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:12.240 point nine inches of growth in a year, twice as 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:15.960 much on sunny days. Yes, but they're still not going 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:19.040 to exceed that three point nine inches most likely because 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:21.640 it's might be all the time. But what's cool then 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:24.040 is if you think, well that's crazy, you know there's 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:28.680 some coral that Um, I've seen coral reefs, and they're big. 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:31.400 And if it takes three point it takes a year 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:36.440 to grow about three point nine inches, say horizontally or vertically, 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:39.840 maybe even die diagonally. If it was like a crazy 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:43.880 year for them. Um, it must take thousands of years 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:46.000 for coral reef to build up. You would be right, 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:50.960 my friend, Which is why scientists very affectionately consider coral 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:55.440 reefs the old growth forests of the sea. UM. Because 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:57.960 when you're looking at coral reef, you're looking at something thousands, 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:00.440 if not tens of thousands of years old. Which is 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:03.880 my question is how long does the coral live? So 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:06.240 one thing I didn't get out of this this article. 0:15:06.360 --> 0:15:10.640 Did you, oh, how each individual coral, each polypic boll? 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:13.560 I don't know. And are they are there their cups, 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:18.200 the protective cups that they secrete? Um? Are they inhabited 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:23.000 by like successive generations, their clones maybe my guests? And 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:26.080 I'm guessing here is that there are so many, hundreds 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:29.320 of thousands and millions of these packs so tightly together 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:32.720 that if one of the little guys dies, it ain't 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:35.840 no big thing, because he's surrounded by his living brothers 0:15:35.880 --> 0:15:38.680 and sisters. But I don't know how long each one lives. 0:15:38.680 --> 0:15:43.360 At this good question, someone will know. Coral sand. If 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:45.440 you look at the reef and you think, hey, coral 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:48.560 is obviously the skeleton here of this great reef. Uh, 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:52.640 it's not just the coral. Coral sand, from what I understand, 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:56.680 is little remnants, tiny pieces of coral that are either 0:15:56.840 --> 0:16:01.000 eaten and pooped out or just chip away because of 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:04.680 erosion and waves crashing and bad weather and stuff like that. 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:07.680 Right right, yeah, and um, but the cool thing is 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:10.000 that it doesn't necessarily go anywhere. It can fill in 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:14.640 gaps or holes, and then, as luck would have it, 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:20.239 there is a type of algae called coral line algae 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:23.440 that goes and covers it up. And the structure of 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:26.640 the algae acts is like an adhesive that glues the 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:32.480 coral sand. So basically it's like this self sustaining repair 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:36.000 process that's always going on. Waves of road the coral 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:38.600 into coral sand. Certain types of fish choose the coral 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:41.600 into coral sand. The sand goes in just drifts into 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:43.640 like little pockets where it gets caught in. The algae 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:47.240 lays over it bam strong coral well and coral sand 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:50.280 is mind which is one of the threats to reefs 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:53.800 because they use it for bricks and cement and road fill. 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:56.600 So if you're mining the coral sand, there's not gonna 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:59.840 be that natural spackle to fill in the holes, and 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:03.600 thus the reef is jeopardized, which is just one of 0:17:03.680 --> 0:17:07.280 many ways that research in jeopardy. Apparently one estimate is 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:11.639 that um of the world's reefs could be gone in 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:15.880 the next few decades. That's scary, very sad. I hope 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:20.000 you're scared. I'm scared. Um. This is where I got 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:22.800 a little confused, was well, let's talk about the kinds 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:26.119 of reefs, because I'm not confused about that. There are 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:30.720 basically three categories, depending where they form the fringing reef. 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:35.360 It's most common it's directly from the shore and they 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:38.040 form a border projecting out to the sea. Yeah. It's 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:40.479 kind of like, Um, if you go to like Marble 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:45.280 Head in Ohio, there's a lighthouse. Um, I think it's limestone. 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:47.800 It's like it just comes right off the land, right. 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:50.080 I don't understand how that would be because it's in 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:52.600 Lake Erie, which is not fresh water, but who knows. 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:55.719 It's very similar to that. It's like just a rocky 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:59.200 projection jutting out from the land. But it's a coral reef, right, 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:01.919 or if it were a coral reef, that's a fringing reef. 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:06.439 Interesting reef attached to land. Very reef, very similar to 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:10.960 the fringing reef, but it has a gap of water 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:14.720 between the land and in the reef. Correct. And then 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:17.720 my favorite, of course, the atoll. It's a nice one, 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:20.480 which is when at one point there was an island 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:24.199 or volcano and it sunk, but you still have the 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:29.200 circular wreath reef with I guess like a lagoon or something. Yeah, 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:33.080 the reefs keeps building, but the mountain is now submerged. 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:36.400 Pretty cool. Yeah, so you got your three types fringing 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:38.720 barrier and at all, Right, the zones is where I 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:41.840 get a little confused. So all of these reefs um 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:44.320 are kind of broken down into zones. Like remember the 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:47.240 bio speleology. How could I forget? Okay, So you've got 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:50.040 like the different zones of the This is very similar 0:18:50.240 --> 0:18:55.119 to that. You've got the back of the reef, and 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:58.280 the back is the side closest too short. I think 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:00.560 that's what confused me. And then really it is a 0:19:00.560 --> 0:19:03.680 little confusing but it's from the it's from the viewpoint 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:08.000 of the sea. Um. So you've got just imagine like 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:11.200 a line and then a bump and then another line, 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:15.320 and that's our reef right um on the shore side 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:17.639 of the bump, that's the back of the reef. And 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:21.320 this is actually where the most life is. Yeah. Um. 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:23.720 Sometimes it's left high and dry by low tide, but 0:19:23.760 --> 0:19:27.200 most times it's just this little shallow area that's got 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:30.000 tons of sunlight. So there's tons of plankton, which means 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:33.800 there's tons of fish. There's a feeding frenzy, there's diurnal 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:38.040 temperature changes. It's just very pretty. It's what most people 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:41.600 think of when they think about diving on a coral reef. Right. 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:47.679 Then that bump, that's the ridge or the crest. Okay Um, 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:53.719 that part the the crest is always exposed at low tide, 0:19:54.359 --> 0:19:57.040 and it may be exposed even at high tide sometimes 0:19:57.040 --> 0:20:00.320 depending on how big. But it's the tallest point. It 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:03.600 also um serves as the wave break for that function 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:07.119 of um reefs that protect the lane. This is what 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:10.160 the waves smack into, so it's gonna be more easily 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:14.840 eroded and probably have more of that natural spackle. Right yes, 0:20:14.960 --> 0:20:20.600 that was it coralline algae. Probably that was called cora line, yeah, 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:24.200 oka or coraline whichever, however you want to say it, Chuck, 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:26.960 I'm not gonna stress you out, all right, um. And 0:20:27.000 --> 0:20:31.200 then there's the four reef that's the the ocean side, 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:35.399 the seaside, right um. And in that part of the 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:37.199 four we find the other side of the crest, the 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:40.320 seaside of the crest, there's the buttress zone, which is 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:42.280 awesome if you ask me, And that's where you're gonna 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:45.040 find if you're shark hunting, that's where you're gonna find 0:20:45.040 --> 0:20:47.400 like sharks and barracuda and interesting things like that, right, 0:20:48.200 --> 0:20:50.240 But does it buttress? Is that why they call it 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:52.760 the buttress zone? So the buttress consider a buttress is 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:57.359 just like a jutting projection of coral limestone, right, just 0:20:57.440 --> 0:21:00.280 jutting out, and then in between these projections are little 0:21:00.359 --> 0:21:04.120 channels holes that can go all the way through. I'm 0:21:04.119 --> 0:21:06.560 not quite sure what the physics are of it, but basically, 0:21:07.240 --> 0:21:09.840 once a wave goes through this coral reef and hits 0:21:09.880 --> 0:21:13.440 shore and then gets drawn back out to see these channels, 0:21:13.880 --> 0:21:18.919 um funnel these spent waves back out to sea, and 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:22.959 by funneling them it gives them a more energy, so 0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:26.640 then they crash into oncoming waves, which reduces the oncoming 0:21:26.680 --> 0:21:29.720 waves velocity. So all this is is in an attempt 0:21:30.280 --> 0:21:34.639 naturally to combat the erosion of pounding waves. Yes, awesome, 0:21:34.720 --> 0:21:38.080 Yeah it's pretty cool. Um, that's also a really excellent 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:42.800 um shelter for a little fish ease and things like that. 0:21:42.840 --> 0:21:45.960 They want to go into the channel. So, josh, we've 0:21:46.000 --> 0:21:49.840 talked about the Great Barrier reef uh here and there, 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:53.199 but we should give it its proper do as the 0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:57.040 largest living structure on the planet scene from outer space. 0:21:57.119 --> 0:22:00.320 Everyone loves to throw that back around. Yeah, can see 0:22:00.320 --> 0:22:03.800 it from outer space. And then made me look something up, chuck, Um, 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:08.720 that's it's the largest living structure. Okay, So if if 0:22:09.000 --> 0:22:10.800 coral reef is an organism, do you know what the 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:16.600 second largest living organism is? Um, it's a fungus in 0:22:16.680 --> 0:22:22.680 Oregon named amarially Ois stay years old. Takes up four 0:22:22.760 --> 0:22:26.040 square miles or ten square kilometers, single organism. Where is 0:22:26.080 --> 0:22:29.640 it Oregon, Oregon? Yeah, it's a It's at our friend 0:22:29.720 --> 0:22:33.720 Van Nostrian's house. So it's a big mushroom. Yeah. Interesting, 0:22:33.760 --> 0:22:37.480 didn't that gross. That is gross. So uh, the Great 0:22:37.520 --> 0:22:42.280 Barrier reef, we're talking four dwy nine miles or clicks 0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:46.240 and um, it is not a single reef. It's about 0:22:46.240 --> 0:22:49.879 three thousand I got so. I'm not sure if that 0:22:49.960 --> 0:22:53.160 number had declined since this was written or not. But um, 0:22:53.359 --> 0:22:57.760 Jennifer points out, and like you pointed out earlier, the 0:22:57.760 --> 0:23:01.040 the full edge of the reef is about UM eighteen 0:23:01.080 --> 0:23:04.360 and a half thousand miles. So she says, if anyone's 0:23:04.359 --> 0:23:07.200 ever told you they've died the entire Great Berry Reef, 0:23:07.240 --> 0:23:10.359 their dirty liars. Yes, she said, they're lying because there's 0:23:10.359 --> 0:23:12.280 no way you couldn't do it in a lifetime. She said, 0:23:13.440 --> 0:23:15.560 I wonder if somebody told her that, and she like 0:23:15.600 --> 0:23:18.720 inserted it in the article. I don't know. It's definitely 0:23:18.720 --> 0:23:50.040 an accusation, it is. It's a weird tien. It's one 0:23:50.080 --> 0:23:52.840 of the seven natural wonders of the world. More than 0:23:52.920 --> 0:23:57.200 four coral species, two thousand fish species, four thousand mollusks, 0:23:57.680 --> 0:24:01.399 and six of the seven sea turtle species. Ease, all 0:24:01.520 --> 0:24:09.400 right there for the for the googling, nice and the um, 0:24:10.320 --> 0:24:12.080 like you said, the Australians are gonna be proud of 0:24:12.119 --> 0:24:15.800 this and they should be back. In nineteen seventy five, 0:24:15.920 --> 0:24:20.639 apparently it was in some jeopardy and the Australians moved 0:24:20.640 --> 0:24:25.800 to protect it as a National Marine Park UM and 0:24:27.040 --> 0:24:31.880 that basically ensured its survival. It's still you know, kind 0:24:31.920 --> 0:24:36.680 of in rough shape here there is, as I understand. 0:24:36.800 --> 0:24:39.239 But um, six years after that, so let's see, that's 0:24:40.080 --> 0:24:44.480 one it became a World Heritage Site UM and one 0:24:44.560 --> 0:24:48.880 percent of the eighteen and a half thousand square miles 0:24:48.960 --> 0:24:53.480 or eighteen and a half thousand linear miles UM are 0:24:54.040 --> 0:24:57.080 open to the public except for that one percent to 0:24:57.240 --> 0:24:59.959 just one percent is dedicated to research only just research, 0:25:00.080 --> 0:25:02.520 just pretty cool, not very much because all they need 0:25:02.560 --> 0:25:06.080 bona fide scientists to dive that part. The rest of it, 0:25:06.520 --> 0:25:09.480