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We’d planned to be in the Caribbee this month for our annual pilgrimage to the reef around Little Cayman Island. Everything reserved, paid for, dive gear serviced, pennies saved all year — and then the covid-19 pandemic hit. I’m well aware of the widespread hardship amongst world populations, and know also how privileged we are to be able to travel like this. Still, I’m sad to miss it, especially since our advancing years and disabilities mean we may never go again. Diving coral reefs is my happy place, where I’m immersed in natural wilderness, communing with wild animals, and I can forget about my physical frailties, drifting like a mermaid in sweet blue water.
I thought today I’d share some images of past visits to the reefs there, which you may like too. It’s a peek into the past, in more ways than one.
Tropical reefs everywhere are on borrowed time these days, and even these relatively remote protected reefs have no defense against warming oceans. Last summer even these fairly northern Caribbean reefs had some bleaching, an ominous sign of vulnerability. To survive, corals must have tiny colored zooxanthellae living inside them, otherwise they starve and asphyxiate. But when water gets too hot, these critical symbionts become life-threatening to the coral animals they dwell in, and are expelled. Corals can survive short term bleaching events but they are weakened, and are even more vulnerable to any future stressors. These reefs recovered last fall and are in pretty good condition right now I hear, water temp not too high yet. These pictures show what healthy corals and other reef inhabitants look like, photographed on previous spring trips to the Caribbee.
There are many many kinds of corals. These are just a few, with their associated communities. Coral reefs support vast complex ecosystems of creatures. Wherever you see living coral you will see many kinds of fish and invertebrates going about their lives.
The reef along the chain of Cayman islands is about a thousand feet deep and very old. The living part of the reef is on the outer surface, in contact with the sea. Near the top of the wall, here about 60 feet down, the coral looks monolithic and still. But when you get close up you see a vivid varied array of life.
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Fire coral is a favorite of mine, its warm russet shades grow in many forms... different kinds but all similar in the sharp burning sting you’ll get if you even barely brush by one.
The “trees” of the reef are animals, with a hard structural support of calcium carbonate.
Pillar coral is more active in daytime than most corals. In a current, the exposed tentacles flutter in the breeze. Small fish take shelter within the pillars.
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Let’s return now to our backyards for current reports of natural happenings — what’s up in nature in your part of the world?