Coral Reefs, Mangroves and deep (sea) thoughts

When I was young, I only thought of coral reefs as colourful, pretty and motionless boulders in the bottom of the sea for illustration purposes; And I thought mangroves were bamboo trees (seeing bamboo is a common food in Vietnam) Only when I study Geography I realised my whole life is a lie (no just kidding) and my misconceptions have been cleared up.
Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. They are colonies of tiny animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients:

At first glance my immediate thoughts would be: Hm, places with this feature would have great source of tourism income, seeing how beautiful they are. With logical thoughts, the locals would gain more employment opportunities and contribute better to the economy by being tourist guides, helpers etc...


Then I realised coral reefs arent merely for show. There is a reason why they are labelled the "rainforest" of the ocean: they are home to such a large diversity of marine creatures. This makes coral reefs even more crucial to the ecosystem in the ocean: without them all the creatures will lose their habitats and thus at risk of extinction.
(Did you see Dory?- Just keep looking, just keep looking, just keep looking looking looking~)

Up next is mr. mangroves aka "everyone's favorite water tree".Mangroves are various types of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics. Mangroves have similar usefulness to coral reefs, with an extra layer of protection:
Mangroves prevents erosion of the soil.


Mangroves just like its friend coral, is a good guy and thus provides free housing for so many jobless creatures.

Mangroves are also excellent educational and tourism venues:
 The girl... i mean mangrove looks fine

Finally, just a thought regarding the sea. We all know that oceans are still a big mystery awaiting pioneers to solve (i know i am not one). And deep sea creatures are also big question marks to our knowledge of the world. Coincidentally enough, I passed by this article:
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26373896



Fascinating, isnt it?