This story was created for the Google Expeditions project by The Hydrous Inc., now available on Google Arts & Culture
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Degraded Table Corals, Rasdhoo Madivaru
Coral reefs offer protection for animals and the habitat for spawning, nursery, breeding, feeding grounds for numerous organisms, including fish, corals, lobsters, clams, seahorses, sponges, sharks, and sea turtles to name a few.
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Coral reefs support more than 800 hard coral species and more than 4,000 species of fish. Degradation to these reefs threaten the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of creatures that rely on reefs for their survival.
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Unhealthy Table Coral
Acropora is a genus of reef-building corals that come in many different shapes and sizes. They are common in shallow environments with bright light and moderate to high water motion. Many small fishes live near the coral colonies and use the branches for protection.
Healthy Table Coral
Acropora are highly susceptible to bleaching due to ocean warming. A healthy coral colony boasts vibrant colors of gold and brown.
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Unfortunately the Maldives experienced a bleaching event in 2016, meaning higher than normal water temperatures caused many corals to turn white and die, and eventually be taken over by macroalgae.
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Sea Cucumber
Sea cucumbers are echinoderms that typically live on the sea floor. They are important contributors to marine systems because they help recycle nutrients and break down detritus and other organic matter.
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Scissortail Sergeant
The scissortail sergeant, or striptailed damselfish, live in groups on a single coral reef in tropical regions. They can grow to a length of about 6.3 inches and feed on larvae of invertebrates, zooplankton, smaller fishes, crustaceans, and algae.
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Rasdhoo Madivaru Reef with Pollution
The Maldives may be known as a tropical paradise, but waste management is a rising problem that threatens this image. The world's largest rubbish island, Thilafushi, lies just a boat ride from the Maldivian capital, Malé.
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The artificial island was built in 1992 to solve Malé's refuse problem. But today, with more than 10,000 tourists a week in the Maldives, it is getting harder to manage the waste, which is seen above and below water in the coral reefs.
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Plastic Pollution
Marine debris injures and kills marine life, interferes with navigation safety, and poses a threat to human health. Most marine debris comes from land-based sources, with food and beverage containers making up the largest component.
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Orange-lined Triggerfish
Triggerfish have an oval-shaped body and a large head, and powerful teeth used for crushing shells. They tend to be solitary and notoriously aggressive with other fish. Triggerfish have a dorsal spine it can erect to intimidate predators.
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Plastic Bottle Covered With Algae
The quantity of marine debris is increasing in oceans worldwide. Plastic packaging and single use disposable plastic products are the most common type of marine debris. These items degrade into smaller and smaller pieces called microplastics.
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Bigeye Trevally Fish
Juveniles spend the first years of their life in shallow estuaries until they move to reefs as adults. They can be seen in the day circling coral reefs in schools, but they feed mostly at night, when their large eyes help these fish detect prey.
Beach Litter by Dryft Digital
Beach Litter
Marine debris is human-created waste that has been deliberately or accidentally released into the ocean. Some of the ways this occurs is through dumping from boats in the ocean, and from beach litter that washes into the sea, with plastic water bottles being a common item found floating in the sea and underwater.
Marine Biologists explore Rasdhoo Madivaru Reef
Unusually warm ocean temperatures due to climate change and a strong “El Nino” phenomenon have led to coral reefs worldwide being affected in a global bleaching event over the past two years.
A scientific survey in the Maldives in 2016 suggests more than 60% of all assessed coral colonies and up to 90% in some areas were bleached.
Marine Biologist Surveying Coral Reefs
This scientist is using a square quadrat to sample a random area, so she can monitor the biodiversity and health of a region or reef. She records what species of corals and any amount of bleaching she observes in that area.
Purple Mushroom Coral
Fungia is a genus of mushroom corals that are solitary, meaning they do not create colonies and are not attached to the seabed. They are found in various colours including white, pink, red, purple, blue, and yellow. The mouth is surrounded by tentacles, and looks like a slit in the center of the coral.
Porites Mound Coral
Species of the genus Porites are usually pale or dark green, yellow, purple, or brown, and can form flat, branching, or spherical shapes.
These corals grow very slow (less than half an inch per year), but form some of the largest coral colonies, putting them among the oldest life forms on earth! The tentacles of the coral polyps extend at night, giving the coral a furry appearance.
Coral Polyps
Coral reefs are built by and made up of many small invertebrate animals called coral “polyps.” Each of the small white “dots” on the branches of this Pocillopora species is a polyp.
Polps are related to anemones and jellyfish and can live individually (like mushroom corals) or in large colonies like an entire reef structure.
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Manta Rays at a Cleaning Station in Maaya Thila
Reef manta rays can grow to around 17 feet in width and can travel 43 miles in a single day. They have the largest brains of all fish known to date, and display social and intelligent behavior.
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Mantas have an amazing counter-current heat system which allows them to keep their brain warm at a stable temperature. Like many types of marine animals including coral reefs, a manta’s skin is covered in a protective mucus membrane, which can be damaged if touched.
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Manta Ray Markings
Every manta has a unique pattern of spots on its ventral (underside) surface, and these stay the same throughout their lives. These unique patterns of spots are like fingerprints and allow scientists to identify individuals.
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Cephalic Fins
Manta rays have two cephalic fins in front of the mouth, which extend when feeding to help push water into the mouth, and curl up when they are swimming fast. Mantas are filter feeders and eat large quantities of zooplankton.
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Diver Holding on to Rope
This diver is holding on so he doesn’t get pulled away by the strong current! Oceanic currents describe water movement from one location to another, and are driven by wind, water density, and tides. Coral reefs depend on currents to deliver food and disperse their larvae.
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Manta Ray Bard
Mantas evolved from bottom-dwelling stingrays, but still have a remnant of a non-stinging barb in the form of a caudal spine. Despite their large size and appearance, mantas are not dangerous to humans.
Grouper
Grouper are fish that belong in the same family as sea basses, and frequent cleaning stations as well. Although they are slow swimmers, they intimidate smaller prey with their large mouths and body (some species can grow more than eight feet long and weigh up to 800 pounds!).
Like sharks, as a predator, they help to keep a healthy reef ecosystem in balance.
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Using Technology to Understand and Help Ecosystems
The average height of islands in the Maldives lies around 3 feet above sea level. Because the country is low-lying, Maldivians worry about the possibility of it sinking, especially now that climate change and sea level rise continue to take effect.
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To raise awareness on climate change, Maldives held the world’s first underwater cabinet meeting in 2009. The meeting was called by President Mohamed Nasheed, in order to draw attention to the threat posed by climate change.
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Checkerboard Wrasse Fish
The checkerboard wrasse changes both its sex and appearance during its life. Like many other wrasses, it starts life as a female and later becomes a male, when it is about 5 inches long.
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Diver Filming with a Virtual Reality Camera
This diver is using special camera equipment to record footage in the hopes that everyone can experience the ocean in an immersive way, without having to get your head wet! The advancements of technology can help in the understanding and connection to our ocean ecosystems.
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Blue Tube Sponge
Corals and sponges are types of marine invertebrates that belong to two different phyla. Sponges do not have nervous, digestive or circulatory systems. Instead, they rely on constant water flowing through their porous bodies to obtain food and oxygen and to remove wastes.
3D Photogrammetry
Advancements in technology allow us to better understand coral reef diversity and health. For example, you can now create an interactive 3D model of a coral reef underwater with non-invasive techniques, using nothing more than a camera and 3D software.
Not only does this technology allow for more immersive research and education, they are printed for scientific and visualization tools.
Island by Dryft Digital
Island
A dolphin can jump higher than the average height of a coral island in the Maldives. These islands are susceptible to monsoonal flooding, coastal erosion, and salt water intrusion due to sea level rise.
Coral reefs (shown as the brown coloration in the bright blue ring) surround the islands, and if healthy, and act as a natural buffer to protect these islands the people that live there.
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Swimming Through a Tunnel in Kudarah Thila
Some of the richest marine biodiversity in the world is found in the warm waters of the Maldives' coral reefs. You are likely to see stunning coral reefs, caves and brightly colored fish.
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Dive a little deeper and if you’re lucky, you may spot manta rays, moray eels, turtles, whales and sharks. You might even be able to catch a glimpse of the whale shark, the world’s largest fish.
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Scuba Diver
SCUBA stands for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. A scuba diver is able to breathe underwater by carrying their own source of breathing gas, usually compressed air, shown here as a tank on their back.
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Gorgonian
Gorgonians, also known as sea whips and sea fans, are cnidarians closely related to soft corals. Individual tiny polyps form colonies that are normally erect and flattened, and look like a branching fan.
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The beautiful colors of Gorgonians are easier to see in shallower water where there is more light.
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Bluestripe Snapper
This fish is native to the Indian Ocean, and like many snappers, it inhabits coral reefs. They frequently gather in large groups around coral reefs, caves, and wrecks during the day.
Coral Bommie in Maamigili
Coral bommies are stand-alone coral structures that can be as big as a car, and full of many different species of corals. They are structural stepping stones, offering refuge and homes for many marine organisms in the maze of reef structures.
These reef structures are named after the Australian aboriginal word bombora, meaning outcrop or mountain of reef.
Crustose Coralline Algae
These encrusting and rock-like patches of pink "paint" are actually living red algae, found in abundance in healthy coral reefs. Coralline algae play an important role in the ecology of coral reefs because they produce chemicals which promote the settlement of larvae.
Powderblue Surgeonfish (or Powder Blue Tang)
Nicknamed for its "surgeon's scalpel," a spine located at the base of the tail that stands erect when it feels attacked, these fish inhabit shallow and clear coastal waters always associated with a reef.
Because they eat algae, they play an important role in coral health by preventing algal overgrowth.
Sea Anemone
Sea anemones are one large polyp, closely related to corals and jellyfish, that use stinging cells, called, nematocysts, to paralyze prey. Clownfish (pictured here) live in a symbiotic relationship with sea anemones, so they aren’t affected by the stings.
Blacktip Reef Shark
Sharks rely on healthy reefs, and reefs depend on sharks to keep the entire ecosystem in balance. Researchers have found that healthy shark populations may aid in the recovery of coral reefs.