Quick Facts about Coral Reefs

  • Through tourism, coastal protection, reef fishing, and other ecosystem services, coral reefs generate $29.8 billion per year (Cesar, Burke and Pet-Soede, 2003; http://bit.ly/Mg00m6). - Dang!


  • When factoring in indirect benefits, some estimates increase this number to $400 billion (http://abcn.ws/Mg0gSb). - Serious Scratch!


  • Coral Reefs cover less than 1/10th of 1% of the ocean floor, yet are home to 25% of all marine life. (http://bit.ly/Mg2WyY) Some of this might just be for nursing, but hey, a home is a home, even if you are a baby! Am I right ladies?


  • Wait, let's go back to how much coral reefs take up. Bake a cake, cut it up into 10 pieces, then cut those 10 pieces into 10 pieces each, then cut one of those remaining pieces into  10 pieces. That's how much space coral reefs take up. And yet its like they hold 25% of the sugar on that cake. That is some delicious space. Somebody tell me if my math is right. 


  • People like to call coral reefs “the rainforests of the sea.” But that's silly. We don't call rainforests the coral reefs of the land. So let's just call them what they are: the coral reefs of the sea.