When you think about coral reefs, your first thought is probably the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, or some other equally vibrant tropical part of the world. But did you know that coldwater coral reefs exist? In fact, over half of coral species are found in cold water, where temperatures sit around 4-12℃.
We are lucky enough to have coldwater reefs in the UK, primarily off the coast of Scotland in the Mingulay Reef Complex. But what role do they play, and why should we care about protecting them? In this blog, we explore the importance of UK coral reefs in more detail.
They’re 8,000 years old
Coral reefs have been around for many years before you or I, and with the right care, they’ll hopefully be around for many more years to come. Incredibly, the ones in the UK are a staggering 8,000 years old, and the youngest corals are just five years old, showing that these reefs are a living, growing part of UK waters.
Coral reefs are created from individual creatures called polyps, which have a hard skeleton. Live coral grows on the empty skeletons, and so the large branching colonies form as the cycle continues. The UK’s reefs are made from the Lophelia species, which only grows in the North Atlantic ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Alboran Sea.
Marine life depends on them
Coral reefs are vital habitats for all sorts of marine life. They provide food and shelter, as well as a breeding ground for many fish species, who lay their eggs in a protected area. They’re also used by fish as a nursery, where their young can be born and explore in a safer environment than elsewhere in the open water.
More widely, coral reefs cover 0.1% of the ocean floor, but are responsible for 25% of all marine life. This just goes to show how important they are, and why protecting UK coldwater reefs, that support UK native fish, is vital.
They protect the coastline
It’s easy to just consider land defences and structures that support the UK coastline, but what’s happening underwater matters too. As an island, the UK is particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels, strong currents and wave damage, as the water slowly erodes the shoreline. The impact of rising sea levels has been particularly evident in recent years with coastal flooding.
While not as significant as major reefs in other countries, as the UK reefs are concentrated in one area, they nonetheless provide a breaker for the harsh Atlantic waves, despite their depth. In fact, the waves are beneficial for the reef, because they wash food over the corals and help sustain life.
What can we do to protect UK coral reefs?
Protecting these reefs is our collective responsibility, wherever you live. To help, one of the best things you can do is to ensure that any seafood you’re eating is classed as sustainable – this avoids using fishing methods such as deep sea trawling, where thousands of years of growth can get smashed apart in just a few minutes.
You can also ensure that you’re cutting out single-use plastics as much as possible, and avoid products that contain microplastics. With 51 trillion pieces of microplastic in the world’s water, it’s crucial that we move away from buying products that contain it, and vote for sustainability with our wallets.
Author bio: Roseanne McIntyre
Roseanne found out about the UK coral reefs a few years ago, and has been trying to spread the word ever since. She takes part in beach cleans and volunteers at her local repair café to encourage people to be more environmentally friendly.