Gaze at the vivid yellows,blues,and psychedelic swirls of a single emperor angelfish and you'll sense the whimsy of evolution. Go on to explore its home in lush coral reefs and you'll soon hit sensory overload,assaulted by colors and patterns that range from sublime to garish.Coral reefs are unquestionably the world's most colorful places.But why?
2007-12-19 02:05:37 · 6 answers · asked by nithya sam 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
There are so many species living all mixed together in coral reefs that you would need to be very bright and easily distinguishable so that others of your kind could find you. It could be that as some of the creatures in coral reefs evolved to be colourful, other creatures had to become more colourful to compete, and this started a "colour war" where everyone needed brighter and brighter colours just to be seen.
2007-12-19 02:13:07 · answer #1 · answered by Nature Boy 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Coral Reefs are defined as a whole living organism, as a matter of facts its the only living org. that you can see from space. Life emerge in the realms of deep water in that way life was protected from harmful uv rays, since our atmosphere didn't have an ozone layer. The thing with CR is that they have plenty of time to evolve and for that reason its one of the ecosystems with the greatest biodiversity. It has a lot of natural selection pressure so most of its inhabitants have to adapt to its surroundings. Color and forms are one of the adaptations most animals have to repel attacks, camouflage and to seek partners for reproductions, so in part that's why CR are so colorful and diverse in life forms.
2007-12-21 14:01:38 · answer #2 · answered by poseidondelemer 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
may be it's to protect the coral reefs from the predectors....ex:from the big fishes...!!
2007-12-21 06:27:54 · answer #3 · answered by cool gal... 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's their way to entice all the ocean creatures (crustaceans, fish, etc.) to enter, live, and flourish there. They are co-dependent! Unfortunately, due to their beauty, some land mammals have been known to take advantage of this neighbourly behaviour.
2007-12-19 14:04:53 · answer #4 · answered by Pinyon 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
coral reefs are really amazing to me. I dont know why, they just are..:)
2007-12-19 10:08:35 · answer #5 · answered by Elana A 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
they are so colorful because they obtain minerals from the water and the ground...
2007-12-19 10:15:39 · answer #6 · answered by Yvve 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋