Tropical Reef Guide

Planet Earth is called the ocean planet because more than 70 percent of the earth’s surface is covered by salt water. While there are very few places left on the surface of the earth that have not been explored, most of the ocean has not been visited by humans – mainly because of its depth and inaccessibility. The average depth of the ocean is more than 3,657 meters (12,000 feet) and the deepest spot in the world is the Marianas Trench in the Pacific Ocean, which is 10,911 meters (35,798 feet) deep. The seas are also teeming with life. There is no ocean environment with a greater diversity of species than tropical coral reefs. Ecologists classify coral reef environments as an ecosystem – a living community of plants and animals and their physical environment connected by a vast and complex web of food chains.

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