Colourful coralsCorals, which are used as decorative items, are in fact skeletons of minute marine organisms that are porous and stony in nature. These animals look similar to the sea anemone having a cylindrical central body with a crown of tentacles. They extract lime from sea-water to build a skeleton with cup-like holes which increases in size as the animal grows.
They withdraw into the cups during the day and extend out of these only to feed during night. These animals feed on small organisms such as algae, micro-organisms, worms and mollusks. The tentacles help in the collection and ingestion of food.Corals come in many shapes -- the stag-horn coral, brush coral, pillar coral, finger coral, brain coral, flower coral, tree coral, cluster coral and others. In the brain coral, the skeleton is round and has furrows that look like those of our brain.
The animals in the corals come in various colours of the rainbow, and a coral reef presents a very pretty sight. But, when the animals die, onlythe white skeleton remains. Although corals are small, they build immense reefs. Many islands in the middle of the ocean, such as Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea of Kerala, are made entirely of corals.
Corals are also found in the Gulf of Kutch, Okha and Pirotan, and also on the fringes of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Great Barrier reefs of Australia, one of the largest reef made by corals, is over 1,200 miles long and is 500 million years old.
Corals play a very important role in the sea. They harbour within them several kinds of organisms which provide food for many sea animals. Also coral reefs check sea erosion and act as a barrier against cyclones and storms.
Loris
Lorises are primates -- the division to which chimpanzees and gorillas belong. They are nocturnal, arboreal animals with grey brown body and large round eyes. Two species of loris are found in India: Slow Loris and Slender Loris. The Slender Loris lives in tropical rain forests and dry woodlands and is found in SouthernIndia and Sri Lanka. While the Slow Loris is found in the tropical rain forest of Northeast India. Both are very small in size, and their hands and feet have well-developed thumbs and big toes for grasping the branches. Loris are night prowlers. They roll up into a ball and spend the whole day sleeping. And to do this, they grasp the branch with all their fours and bury their head between them. Being arboreal they seldom come to ground.
Though loris are insectivorous, they also eat fruits, shoots, young leaves, lizards, birds and their eggs. The slow, hand-over-hand movement helps them creep up unobserved on their prey and capturing it with a lightning grasp of both hands.
Their big eyes and ghostly, slow movements are a source of a great superstitious stories. Unfortunately, that does not deter loris from being sold in the market for their luminescent eyes, which are used as charms or love potions.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
