Coral Reefs

Coral Reefs are found throughout the world, most commonly in warm tropical waters that contain very little nutrients. These tropical waters are frequently located around the equator and close to many islands. Corals, also known by the phylum Cnidarians, are composed of mostly calcium carbonate, which also make up their hard skeleton. When the coral polyp dies the skeleton creates the reef structure. Many invertebrates, vertebrates, and plants live in close associations with corals creating such a high biodiversity that corals are commonly refered to as "the Tropical Rainforest of the Oceans" (1).

Picture
UNEP/IUCN(1988). Coral Reefs of the World.Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3: UNEP Regional Seas Directories and Bibliographies. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, U.K./UNEP, Nairobi, Kenya. ISBN: 2-88032-943-4, 2-88032-944-2, 2-88032-945-0

This is a map taken from the book Coral Reefs of the World, that shows in red where the coral reefs of the world reside.