Coral Facts
Food Webs
Reef Citizens
Climate Change
Miscellaneous
100
Reef-building corals are generally found above this depth.
What is 100 ft.? (30m)
100
All (almost) food webs begin with what energy source?
What is the sun?
100
This invasive species is thought to have escaped from aquaria during a hurricane in South Florida.
What are lionfish?
100
Since 1880, human activities have dramatically impacted the amount of this gas in the atmosphere.
What is CO2?
100
This shrimp is doing this to the moray eel.
What is cleaning?
200
Reef-building corals rely on sunlight for most of their energy, but they also prey upon these tiny sea creatures.
What are plankton?
200
Energy transfers from one organism to another conserve only about this much energy.
What is 10%?
200
This group of reef fish get their name from the sharp, scalpel-like protrusion near their tail.
What are surgeonfish?
200
So-called greenhouse gases trap this within the earth's atmosphere.
What is heat?
200
This is the largest fish in the sea.
What are whale sharks?
300
Corals reproduce by doing this (usually only once per year).
What is spawning?
300
The number of organisms at higher trophic levels (the higher you get up the food chain) is what relative to the number of organisms at lower trophic levels?
What is lower?
300
Unlike their cousins from Maine, these tropical reef invertebrates have no claws.
What are spiny lobsters?
300
Acidic ocean conditions can impact marine mollusks (like snails) by hindering the development of this structure?
What are their shells?
300
This species of whale has to eat 3,000 pounds of plankton during every feeding season.
What are humpback whales?
400
Coral skeletons are made of this mineral.
What is calcium carbonate (limestone)?
400
On coral reefs, food webs all begin with these two organisms?
What are phytoplankton and algae?
400
This type of sea turtle enjoys eating sponges. (Hint: look at the bird-like beak)
What are hawksbills?
400
Dissolved CO2 will do this to the pH of water?
What is lower it? (make it more acidic)
400
According to Dory, "Whales don't eat fish; they eat..." this instead.
What are krill?
500
The timing of coral spawning is controlled primarily by these two factors.
What are water temperature and lunar phase?
500
Removal of this apex predator from the coral reef food web can impact many food chains at many trophic levels?
What are sharks?
500
A 20 ft. boulder coral can be as old as this.
What is 500 years old?
500
Following current trends, global mean temperatures are expected to rise by this much by 2100 (+/- 0.5 degree C or 1 degrees F).
What is 3.1C (around 6F)?
500
To combat coral bleaching, researchers in Australia have developed a heat-tolerant species of this single-celled organism by subjecting it to higher and higher temperatures over 150 generations.
What are algae (zooxathellae)?