A Glimpse into Corals Past!

Myself and my fellow Tropical Ospreys got a glimpse of coral reefs past at the Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park in Islamorada, Florida. This park allowed us to get a glimpse at fossilized coral that existed hundreds of years ago when the area was submerged in water. Think of it as like a coral lasagna. As coral continued to grow it would layer over dead coral skeletons made out of calcium carbonate. as the water level rose, the layers would add up. There were many coral fossils that we saw that sit exist today in the coral reefs of Florida. These corals are known as foundation or reef-building corals and are stony in nature as they create the foundation for more corals to grow on.

Some of the corals found were brain coral, star coral and mustard hill. There were even fossils of invertebrates! No wonder this key largo limestone was very popular in architecture as the patterns formed by these fossils was very appealing to the eye. We even got a glimpse of seeing cross-sections of these corals and even learned that the way to tell how old a coral is is by looking inside and counting the lines like you would the rings of a tree.

As a marine biologist in training who has a soft spot for corals and coral reef ecosystems I was flabbergasted when I discovered that these corals that I had the chance to see during this trip existed those many years ago. However, it makes sense as these reefs are thousands of years old as it can take many years to a coral to even grow to maturity and ready to spawn.

It was interesting to see how vegetation would begin to grow on these fossils as there is only a very thin layer of dirt and mostly leaf litter. The decaying matter would be what is giving the vegetation the nutrients they need to survive. Some even have roots coming out of the stone walls and into the ground. geologists have taken samples of these layers of coral skeletons and have been able to determine how old they were!

To learn more about the park visit their website!
To learn more about how these corals build a reef visit this website!