An ecosystem is a group of animals and plants all living together in their specific environment. For example, the ecosystem of a rainforest has lots of different plants and animals, like monkeys, snakes, toucans, parrots and tons of bugs!
A coral reef is a type of ecosystem in the ocean. All kinds of plants and animals live in coral reefs. What animals do you see in the photos with the coral?
Coral can look like lots of different things. Sometimes it looks like a plant, leaf or bush. Sometimes it looks like a rock. Sometimes it just looks like a funky shape! Coral can be many colors--green, blue, black, red or even bright pink.
Coral might look like a plant or a rock, but it's actually made up of millions of tiny animals called polyps. The polyps connect and live together, forming coral.
I saw lots of coral in Florida and in California, but I had never seen coral like this! Some of the colors--bright blue or bright pink--were amazing. The coral was everywhere. I had never seen so much of it before in my life.
Even though I was amazed by the coral, it made me sad to think that pollution and climate change are damaging, or hurting, the coral all over the world.
