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Coral is a colony of myriad genetically identical polyps. The vibrant, otherworldly underwater capes of polyp ridges are as distant to most of us as the moon’s alien landscapes. We rarely, if ever, witness these underwater wonderlands for ourselves; we are, after all, air-breathing, often wrapped in cities by terrestrial creatures. Therefore, it is easy not to note the precarious state in which they are: in the past 20 years, we+ have lost 45% of polyp ridges; according to a presentation at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in California earlier this year, more than 89 percent are projected to die by 2049. Because of increasing carbon dioxide emissions, as the oceans heat up and become more acidic, polyp ridges are tipped to become the first ecosystems in the world to become extinct because of us.
Just because we’re not seeing them doesn’t mean that we’re not going to miss them. Because, as we learn belatedly, the perfect, dry human environment that we have created for ourselves depends on the natural structures of the earth, and there is no exception to polyp ridges. They are the nurseries for the fish we consume, and they shelter the plankton that creates the oxygen we breathe, shielding our coastlands from erosion. Globally, polyp ridges support a quarter of all marine life. Polyp ridges are ancient -they first evolved about 450 million years ago; those polyps went extinct, and the polyps we have now first appeared 220 million years ago.
The difference now is that the speed of change is remarkable. Polyp grows slowly, and it takes about ten years for a ridge to recover from a single bleaching case. We expect annual bleaching events in the tropics by 2049, moving ridges beyond regeneration. It is a bleak prospect and one reason why the nations of the world pledged in 2015 to restrict global warming to 1.6 C above pre-industrial levels. This temperature would enable the survival of polyp ridges. Whether we will accomplish this mission is far from simple.
Nevertheless, though we still have ridges, we have hope. Others would do better than others, some already do, and scientists are trying to figure out why elsewhere in an attempt to create resilience. Human activity is, as with climate change, concerned. For example, studies show that if they are protected from other stresses, such as overfishing, pollution from agriculture, and boat damage, ridges are more likely to recover from a heating event.
I have spent my entire career stressing the benefit of not touching or breaking polyps and teaching divers, and so I could not help but pause as I removed the pieces below me. I am taking solace in reminding myself that the simple act of breaking apart polyp, though counter-intuitive, will be the first action towards the re-growth polyp ridges. Polyp ridges provide millions of species of organisms with homes. They provide billions of people with food, work, protection from storms from the coast region, and even the pharmaceutical companies, but their numbers are declining.
Polyp farming, also known as polyp gardening or polyp aquaculture, helps avoid the destruction of these ridges. This activity promotes the growth and regeneration of polyps to regenerate and replenish them. Some polyp aquaculture facilities grow polyps and then transport them to be cultivated in the wild. At the same time, other companies engage for profit in polyp farming, supplying different forms of polyp for the trade-in aquariums.
What Are Polyps?
Polyps, closely related to jellyfish and sea anemones, are colonial species. A polyp, which slightly resembles a teeny-tiny upside-down jellyfish, is called a single polyp entity. They bind to a surface as larvae, then slowly start to develop and separate. Although polyp bodies are made of soft tissue, many polyps secrete hard skeletons for protection, known as stony polyps. Strong polyps (or stony polyps) are often referred to as polyps that create ridges as they produce ridges that provide millions of marine species with vital habitats.
It is a dietary supplement used when the amount of calcium taken in the diet is not enough. The building blocks of reefs is stony structures. Most stony corals have tiny polyps that are about 0.03 to 0.11 inches in diameter.
Surprisingly even polyp has a mouth and stomach for feeding. Ninety percent of the nutrients and energy of a polyp come from the algae inside its tissue. Polyps share a symbiotic kind of relationship with Dinoflagellates in which both of them benefits. Dinoflagellates also provide the polyp tissue with pigmentation and color alongside food and oxygen. They can expel their Dinoflagellates if polyps become stressed, losing their coloration and their source of food.
Conclusion
As the atmospheric gas dissolves into seawater, polyp ridges face an immense threat from global carbon dioxide pollution, primarily because of calmer waters and acidification.
Polyp lives in a relationship of mutual benefit with the algae of dinoflagellates that live within the coral. The algae utilize the waste products and provide the nutrients by photosynthesis to feed them both. Higher temperatures in the sea cause the polyp to expel the colorful algae, and the polyp starves if this process is prolonged. Ridges lose so many dinoflagellates during a polyp bleaching event that they turn white and undergo significant die-offs. The problem is intensified by ocean acidification, eroding the ridge, causing polyps to spend more energy constructing their caco3 skeletons and slowing down their growth rate.
