Coral Reefs LEVELED BOOK • Q

Coral Reefs
A Reading A–Z Level Q Leveled Book
Word Count: 910

Connections
Writing
Do you think people should protect
coral reefs? Write an answer to the
question using details from the book.
Art
Draw or paint a picture of a coral reef.
Label your art with at least ten words
from the book.
Q •U
N •

Written by Paula Schricker

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 Coral Reefs
Glossary
bleaching (n.) the process of something losing
its color, such as when coral turns
white after its algae die (p . 12)
carbon dioxide an invisible gas that is formed by
(n.) the chemical breakdown or burning
of fuels such as coal or gas (p . 13)
coral reefs (n.) underwater ridges that are found in
warm seawater and are made from
the outer skeletons of small ocean
animals called polyps (p . 4)
dissolve (v.) to break down or disintegrate,
usually because of contact with
a liquid (p . 13)
erosion (n.) the natural removal of rock or soil
by water, wind, or ice (p . 8)
fragile (adj.) easily damaged or broken; delicate
(p . 11)
skeletons (n.) hard frameworks that support and
protect the bodies of some animals
(p . 5)
Written by Paula Schricker
tropical (adj.) of or relating to the geographic
www.readinga-z.com
region around the equator that has
a hot, humid climate (p . 4)
Focus Question
tsunami (n.) a series of large, destructive ocean
waves caused by an underwater What are coral reefs, and why are
earthquake, landslide, or volcanic they being protected?
eruption (p . 11)

16
 Words to Know
bleaching fragile
carbon dioxide skeletons
coral reefs tropical
dissolve tsunami
erosion Each year, volunteer divers help clean reefs.

Title page: Brain corals are stony corals that look like . . . brains! Half of the world’s coral reefs have been
Page 3: Reefs offer many good hiding places for animals, such as this destroyed . Most of those that remain are in
moray eel.
trouble . Scientists are working to help coral
Photo Credits:
Front cover: © Vincent Pommeyrol/Moment/Getty Images; title page: courtesy
reefs . We can help, too . Even if we don’t live
of Peter Craig/National Park of American Samoa/NPS/US Dept of Interior;
page 3: courtesy of Mohammed Al Momany/NOAA; page 4: © Georgette
near an ocean, we can do our part to reduce
Douwma/Stockbyte/Getty Images; page 5 (left): © A. Martin UW Photography/
Moment/Getty Images; page 5 (right): © Peter Scoones/Science Source; page
global warming . Using less energy, recycling,
6 (top): © Humberto Ramirez/Moment/Getty Images; page 6 (bottom): © Steve
De Neef/National Geographic/Getty Images; page 7: © Georgette Douwma/
and walking or biking more all help .
Photographer’s Choice/Getty Images; page 8: Nick Hanna/Alamy Stock Photo;
page 10 (top): © Kieran Stone/Moment Open/Getty Images; page 10 (bottom):
© Federica Grassi/Moment/Getty Images; page 11: © Ethan Daniels/Stocktrek
With our help,
Images/Getty Images; page 12: © Ethan Daniels/WaterFrame/Getty Images;
page 13: Stephen Frink Collection/Alamy Stock Photo; page 14: Jose B. Ruiz/
coral reefs will
Nature Picture Library/Alamy Stock Photo; page 15 (top): courtesy of Paige Gill/
Florida Keys NMS/NOAA; page 15 (bottom): © Ronny Adolof Buol/Pacific Press/
still be a beautiful
LightRocket/Getty Images
natural wonder
many years from
now . What can
Coral Reefs
Level Q Leveled Book Correlation you do to help?
© Learning A–Z LEVEL Q
Written by Paula Schricker
Fountas & Pinnell N
All rights reserved. Indonesian people plant
Reading Recovery 30
mangrove trees to help
www.readinga-z.com
DRA 30 protect nearby coral reefs.

Coral Reefs • Level Q 15

 Protecting Coral Reefs
Many countries have taken steps to protect
nearby reefs . In some places, it is against the
law to take fish, plants, or coral . People and
boats are not allowed near many fragile reefs .
But these laws are only a start .

Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

What Is Coral? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

A Busy Underwater Community . . . . . . . . . . 7

Coral Nurseries Where Are Coral Reefs? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Scientists grow pieces of healthy coral in nurseries. The pieces
Dangers to Coral Reefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
may be rescued from boat damage or coastal building projects.
Scientists hang the pieces from bars or place them in baskets. Later,
Protecting Coral Reefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
they move the pieces to damaged reefs. The pieces help the reefs
become healthy again.
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

14 Coral Reefs • Level Q 3

 Corals can sometimes recover from
bleaching . But if the cause of bleaching
continues, both the corals and the reef will
die . Bleaching now affects three-fourths of
coral reefs .

Because of human activities, Earth’s oceans

also contain too much carbon dioxide . The
extra carbon dioxide makes ocean water more
acidic . As a result, corals can’t take in a certain
chemical that keeps their skeletons healthy .
Many kinds of corals, fish, and other sea creatures live on coral reefs. Without it, their skeletons dissolve .
Introduction People are harming coral reefs in other
Earth’s tropical oceans contain places of ways, too . Fishing methods that use poisons
wonder and beauty known as coral reefs . and explosives
These huge undersea communities are home have destroyed over
to thousands of living things . Day and night, half the reefs in the
animals hunt, eat, and avoid being eaten . Philippines . Building
They depend on each other for food, shelter, along coasts causes
and safety . soil erosion and
pollution . Another
Almost one-fourth of all ocean plants danger is breaking
and animals live around coral reefs . Fish, sea off chunks of coral
turtles, sea stars, and many other animals reefs by accident or
make reefs their home . Visitors include on purpose .
seabirds and dolphins . Boaters damaged this elkhorn coral.

4 Coral Reefs • Level Q 13

Global Warming What Is Coral?
Global warming is a rise in the average temperature of Earth’s
air and oceans large enough to change long-term weather patterns. At first glance, coral may look like oddly
Global warming today is mainly caused by human activities. These
include clearing land for farming and burning coal, oil, and gas.
shaped rocks or plants . Corals are actually tiny
These things make large amounts of carbon dioxide gas. This gas animals called polyps (PAH-lips) . Most polyps
enters the air around Earth and traps heat close to Earth’s surface. are smaller than a pea . One branch or mound
Global warming is causing many problems, including more bad of coral can have thousands of polyps . Each
storms and dangers to natural communities. Scientists expect the
problems to get worse unless we cut way back on the activities that polyp has a tubelike body and a mouth with
make so much carbon dioxide. tiny tentacles . Polyps are eating machines .
At night, they open their tentacles to catch
Another problem, known as bleaching, also
tiny animals .
results from ocean water getting too warm .
When this happens, the algae in coral polyps Hundreds of kinds of corals live in the
change in a way that harms the polyps . To stay ocean . Most are one of two kinds . Hard
safe, the polyps get rid of the algae . Since the corals, also known as stony corals, form hard
algae are their main source of food, they begin skeletons . Over time, many millions of these
to starve . They also lose their color, which hard skeletons build up and form reefs .
makes them look bleached .

Once-colorful coral reefs around the world are turning white from bleaching. Coral polyps attach to the surface beneath them and stay there forever.

12 Coral Reefs • Level Q 5

Elkhorn coral is a hard coral. (Elk actually have antlers, not horns.)

Most stony corals live together with algae

(AL-jee) . Algae are simple cousins of plants .
They supply food for the corals and for many
reef fish .

Soft corals can bend with the currents . They

often look like trees, bushes, or other plants . Pollution and high ocean temperatures can quickly kill a coral reef.
Algae live in the bodies of some, but not all,
Dangers to Coral Reefs
soft corals .
Coral reefs are fragile, and many things
can damage them . Large, powerful tsunami
(soo-NAH-mee) waves can break reefs . Most
damage is caused by people, however .

Many scientists think that pollution

is partly to blame for coral diseases . These
diseases can wipe out a coral reef in weeks .
Warmer ocean water due to global warming
Sea fans are soft corals. Their shape helps them catch tiny bits of food. also plays a part .

6 Coral Reefs • Level Q 11

The Great Barrier Reef is between six and eight thousand years old.

The Great Barrier Reef is made up of over

three thousand separate reefs and islands . It
is home to nearly two thousand kinds of fish .
Golden butterflyfish and a school of red bigeye fish swim past soft corals
Atolls, the third type of reef, are shaped like in Egypt’s Red Sea.

circles . They form around the outside of an old A Busy Underwater Community
sinking island or island volcano . Over time,
the island sinks or the volcano breaks apart . Most people think of brightly colored fish
Then a small body of water called a lagoon when they think about coral reefs—and with
forms in the center . good reason . Thousands of kinds of fish live
on reefs . The reefs provide them with food .
Reefs also protect them from animals that
hunt them for food .

Shrimp, lobsters, and crabs also find food

at reefs . Sea stars catch small animals that
hide among the coral branches . Sea anemones,
which look like flowers, wait for their next
The Maldives is a country in the Indian Ocean made up of twenty-six atolls. meal to drift past .

10 Coral Reefs • Level Q 7

 The Coral Reef Zone
Coral reefs support
ASIA NORTH
thousands of kinds EUROPE
AMERICA ATLANTIC
PACIFIC OCEAN
OCEAN
of living things . They
AFRICA
are important in other Equator
SOUTH
INDIAN
ways, too . Reefs help OCEAN AMERICA

protect coasts from AUSTRALIA

Coral reefs
storms and floods . land
ocean
By keeping soil in ANTARCTICA
Source: NOAA 2017
place, they protect Most coral reefs are found near the equator.

coasts from erosion . Where Are Coral Reefs?

Coral reefs also feed Most reefs are close to shore in warm
and shelter animals that tropical waters . They also form where warm
provide much of the currents flow from the tropics, such as in
world’s seafood . They Florida . Coral grows best in warm water that
help many countries is between 21 and 29 degrees Celsius (70–84°F) .
Reefs like this one in the
bring in money and Caribbean Sea help protect Since algae need sunlight to make food, most
have food to eat . Also, the land from damage. corals live near the water’s surface .
reef plants and animals are used in medicines .
There are three kinds of coral reefs . Fringing
reefs are close to shore . They usually follow
Medicines from Coral Reefs
the natural shoreline, or fringe, of the land .
Scientists have made medicines from living things on coral reefs,
and more are likely on the way. Corals produce a substance that
Barrier reefs have a large, deep area of water
is used in the treatment of asthma and arthritis. Medicines that
treat several different kinds of cancer come from coral reefs, too. between them and the shore . The world’s
Scientists are also studying reef animals for ways to treat infections largest barrier reef is the Great Barrier Reef in
and skin problems.
Australia . It is 2,300 kilometers (1,429 mi .) long .

8 Coral Reefs • Level Q 9