The Florida Keys’ Coral Reefs

The Florida Keys is parallel to the third largest reef system in the world. The Florida Keys’ reef is the only coral reef in the United States. The reef began to be 5000 to 7000 years ago when the sea level got higher after the Wisconsin Ice Age. This reef and all grow very slow. They grow about one to sixteen feet every 1000 years. The reef is very important to the state of Florida and even helps its economy because of the commercial fishing and the tourism. More than three million visit the Keys each year. But tourism also can be bad for the coral since so many boaters and scuba divers touch the coral. The reef stretches south and then west from the Miami area to Dry Totugas. They are located in the Subtropics 24 and 25 degrees north latitude. The climate and environment are a lot like that of the Caribbean. The Upper Keys are the remains of large coral reefs, which are now, fossilize and exposed when the sea level declined. The Lower Keys are made of sandy accumulations of limestone that was made be plants and marine organisms. The Keys have many different species of plant and animal that can not be found anywhere else in the world. Some of them are sea turtles, white-crowned pigeon, long-spined urchin, and the semaphore cactus. The reef is 221 miles and is found one to eight miles offshore. The reefs are a great place for young corals, fish, and crustaceans. The inshore reefs have parts that stick out of water at low tide and go as deep as twenty feet.

Pictures on this page from http://www.fla-keys.com/diving/

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