Coral Reef Ecosystem

Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. They are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Many people tend to call them the Rain Forests of the Sea, because they form some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. They occupy less than one tenth of one percent of the world's ocean surface.

In the USVI waters there is a large concentration of them and some of the most productive ecosystems, providing complex and varied marine habitats that support a wide range of other organisms. But also, the Coral reefs are among the world's most delicate and vulnerable ecosystems. A number of events can affect them drastically resulting in degradation and even death.

They provide habitat, food and shelter for a large variety of organisms. Besides the corals themselves and their symbiotic algae, other creatures live there: sponges, molluscs like sea slugs, nudibranchs, oysters and clams. Also swimming around the reefs in the USVI you will find an enormous variety of reef fish. One of the largest populations in the world in the intriguing Coral Reef Ecosystem.