As I dive into the water, I'm immersed in a different world. Fish swim all around and the ground is covered in corals of different colors and sizes. So much about this underwater world is unknown, yet it covers around 70% of the Earth's surface. In Bali, I had the pleasure of seeing some of these corals while diving. One of my favorite corals is the brain coral also called Diploria labyrinthiformis.
I think of corals as the bushes of the sea. Unlike seagrass they do not reach all the way for the sky like trees, instead, they are more like bushes growing up but only to a defined height and then growing out. They are often larger and cover wide areas along shallow tropical waters. Corals can range from yellow to red to even purple, but deep underwater they often look less bright than they actually are because the water prevents all of the light from getting through so you can see the color. The specific type of coral in these pictures Diploria labyrinthiformis, Brain Coral, looks like its name suggests. Like the human brain, this type of coral has winding ridges all around it. It is usually yellowish underwater, but when bleached or dead turns white.
