Coral Reefs: Cities Under the Sea.With the benefit of hundreds of glorious color photographs of fish, reefs, and underwater scenery, this guidebook provides an in-depth look at how coral reefs coral reefs, limestone formations produced by living organisms, found in shallow, tropical marine waters. In most reefs, the predominant organisms are stony corals, colonial cnidarians that secrete an exoskeleton of calcium carbonate (limestone). function and how they benefit people. Murphy explains that coral reefs are sustainable communities powered by solar energy solar energy, any form of energy radiated by the sun, including light, radio waves, and X rays, although the term usually refers to the visible light of the sun. , where waste is recycled and raw materials are used efficiently. Residents in this society have individual jobs and rely on each other to repair and rejuvenate re·ju·ve·nate tr.v. re·ju·ve·nat·ed, re·ju·ve·nat·ing, re·ju·ve·nates 1. To restore to youthful vigor or appearance; make young again. 2. their community. Profiles of individual fish species appear throughout the text and bring to light many varieties that possess unusual characteristics for adapting to their environment, for example, the spiny puffer Noun 1. spiny puffer - puffers having rigid or erectile spines plectognath, plectognath fish - tropical marine fishes having the teeth fused into a beak and thick skin covered with bony plates or spines Diodontidae, family Diodontidae - spiny puffers fish gulps so much water that it becomes too big for its predators to eat. Murphy also examines how the warming of the oceans is adversely affecting coral reefs almost as much as pollution and destructive fishing practices are. Darwin Pr, 2002, 177 p., color photos, hardcover, $45.00. |
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