The Secret Superpower of Coral Reefs

Photo by Neom on Unsplash

A Magical World Under the Sea

When I was 18, I took a dive into the ocean and found myself floating above a coral reef. It was like a glowing underwater city. Full of colour, movement, and tiny creatures zipping around like they were late for something important.

I wasn’t just swimming. I was falling in love with the reef itself. With its busy little animal neighbours, its secret hiding spots, and its peaceful beauty.

Photo of Dr Hayley Frend diving in the Philippines.

Lots of people feel this way when they see a coral reef for the first time. Even just watching one in a David Attenborough documentary can make your jaw drop. But coral reefs aren’t just pretty, they’re powerful. They could even help save lives.

Let’s find out how.

What Are Coral Reefs?

Coral reefs might look like colourful underwater gardens, but they’re actually made of tiny animals called coral polyps. They can be as big as a basketball but most are no bigger than the end of your pencil. Together they build huge structures from a hard material called calcium carbonate. Over time, these grow into the reefs we see today.

Photo by Shaun Low on Unsplash

Inside the polyps live tiny plants called algae. The algae make food from sunlight and share it with the coral. It’s a team effort that works beautifully…unless something goes wrong (more on that later).

Coral reefs cover less than 1% of the ocean floor, but they support around 25% of all sea life! To help picture that- imagine if the whole ocean was as big as your school playground, coral reefs would only take up a tiny corner, maybe the size of a sandbox. But somehow, that tiny sandbox would be filled with a quarter of all the ocean animals! 

That’s millions of creatures, fish, crabs, octopuses, even sharks, who live and feed there.

Reefs also:

• Help clean the water
• Soak up carbon dioxide and give off oxygen
• Help ocean animals keep finding food
• Support local fishing and tourism jobs

But wait, there’s more. Reefs also act as natural wave stoppers. When big waves head for the shore, reefs slow them down and stop them from crashing hard into land. That means they can help protect coastal towns from dangerous flooding. 

Think it’s cool how nature helps protect our planet? Wait until you see how special bacteria could help fix bricks on the Moon! Make sure you check it out next!

What’s Hurting Coral Reefs?

Even though reefs protect us, we haven’t done a great job protecting them. In the last 70 years, more than half of the world’s coral reefs have been badly damaged or destroyed.

Sad update from North Dry Rocks in Key Largo: On 8/28, we found all staghorn & elkhorn #coral severely bleached & dying. There are no longer any “winners” that have escaped, & I expect all will die in the next several weeks. I can’t believe they spawned just a few weeks ago 🥺 pic.twitter.com/3XLkn3YdVF

— Liv (Williamson) Liberman, Ph.D. (@LivLiberman) August 30, 2023

Why?

• Climate change is heating up the oceans. Too much heat makes coral sick. It causes a problem called coral bleaching, where the coral loses its algae and turns white. Without algae, the coral can die.
• Pollution from plastic, chemicals, and other waste makes reefs dirty and unhealthy.
• Overfishing and destructive fishing methods hurt reef animals and break coral structures.
• Mining and the aquarium trade– sometimes people remove coral completely.

The truth is, coral reefs are in trouble. But there’s hope and science is working on it.

People all over the world are trying to bring coral reefs back to life. They’re planting baby coral, cleaning up ocean areas, and finding ways to grow coral that can survive in warmer water. But all this takes time, money, and a lot of effort. So the more reasons we have to protect reefs, the better! Here is where coral’s flood-fighting superpower could once again come to the rescue!

How Coral Reefs Can Help With Flooding

Around the world, flooding is getting worse. Even towns set back from the beach are being hit by powerful storm surges. These floods don’t happen every year, but they’re becoming more common, especially with climate change.

DEVASTATION- Storm surge causing structural damage and blowing out the doors of condo complex in Cedar Key, FL from Hurricane Idalia @accuweather pic.twitter.com/V6QcoPNm8J

— Quandale (@qdingleanon) August 30, 2023

Usually, countries spend lots of money to build flood walls and barriers. But what if we could use nature instead? That’s what a group of scientists in California wanted to explore.

They studied how much coral reefs can help protect coastlines. They studied reefs in  Florida and Puerto Rico , but what they found could be helpful worldwide. Here’s what they discovered:

• Restoring reefs could reduce big floods.
• Rebuilding just 35 km (about 22 miles) of reef could save so much money in flood damage that it would pay for itself in only one year!
• Reefs near flat, low-down towns gave the best protection, especially for people who live a bit further from the beach and still get flooded.

Even better? These towns often include people who need help the most, like kids, older people, and poorer families.

Meet the incredible scientist behind this research

Nature’s Protection vs. Man-Made Walls

Building flood defences with concrete is expensive, around $5 to $10 million per kilometre. But restoring coral reefs costs much less, sometimes as low as $0.5 million per kilometre. Plus, reefs grow with sea level rise. Concrete can’t do that!

A traditional concrete wave breaker. Which do you prefer? Photo by DDP on Unsplash

Of course, reef restoration still costs money, and it takes time. Coral needs care, and right now, we don’t have enough strong coral to plant everywhere. But new ideas, like growing coral that can survive higher temperatures, are already being tested.

And restoring reefs does more than just stop floods:

• It brings fish back, helping fishermen.
• It attracts tourists, which brings money to communities.
• It helps clean the ocean and fight climate change.

Nature’s full of clever ideas. Did you know scientists got ideas from swarming insects to make tiny robots that help treat lung disease? Check out the blog next to see how!

Final Thoughts: Coral Reefs Are Quiet Heroes

Coral reefs might seem far away, hidden in warm ocean waters. But they’re much closer to our lives than we think.

They’re not just homes for sea creatures, they’re protectors. Shields. Life-savers. Especially for the people who need help the most.

If we give reefs the help they need: cleaner oceans, better care, and some smart science, they can keep helping us in return.

We should protect coral reefs not just because they’re beautiful…
Not just because they’re important…
But because, one day, they might protect you.

Photo by Tom Fisk

Science is awesome. So is asking questions.

Learn how to spot real discoveries from made-up ones with our easy 4-step checklist.
It’s fun, printable and free! Grab it below.

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Keep Exploring

Inspired by nature’s wildest ideas? Keep discovering:

• Moon bricks made with living bacteria
• Tiny robots inspired by insect swarms tackling lung disease

Let’s Talk About It

If you had to choose between building a wall or saving coral reefs to stop floods, which would you pick and why? We would love to know what you think. Tell us below!