Multicolored coral reef
The coral reef is inhabited by thousands of organisms, as diverse as in the richest terrestrial ecosystems. I found out about the similarity of the team of terrestrial organisms and the inhabitants of reefs while visiting beautiful reefs, that surround the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. Swimming in the water, which was so salty, that it would be difficult to drown in it, I got it, what a hawk must feel, soaring above forests and meadows. The difference was, that the forests and meadows here consisted of coral twigs and clumps of seaweed. I looked around the reef around me in the same way, as I looked at the nature of the rainforest and began to see some similarities. There were equivalents of herbivorous animals in the form of clams feeding on algae and omnivores - in the form of multi-colored parrots grazing” among algae and coral polyps. There were also predators - fast slender fish hidden among the blue twigs of the Acropora sp 'coral suddenly falling out and attacking the prey. I noticed, that I was able to divide the inhabitants of the reef very quickly in a manner similar to that in the forest: some of the fish live "on the ground."”, that is, on the seabed, another among the higher branches of the coral jungle. Some were predators that circled the reef like eagles, others - colorful and defenseless - like hummingbirds and parrots from the rainforest. I spent six weeks in Mauritius and went to the beach every morning as early as possible, whenever there was enough light, to spend about an hour observing the fish. In those six weeks, I never returned to the hotel without seeing one, and sometimes several species, I've never seen before. This shows the richness of life on the reef.