- Coral Garden -

Copyright 2000     Royce McClure

Coral reefs look like colorful underwater gardens but in fact corals are carnivorous animals called polyps. Most corals are not solitary but grow in colonies. As new polyps grow, others die forming a coral reef with a base formed from millions of dead polyp skeletons and a layer of living ones. Coral reefs are found in clear, shallow, warm waters. The largest and best known being the Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of Australia. It is 2027 km (1260 miles) long. One fish featured in this painting that most people can identify is the puffer fish. This fish has the ability to swallow water to inflate itself. This makes it's spines stick out, and also makes it a larger size and therefore not so easy to swallow. There are several closely related species such as the porcupine fish, this being very similar but with longer spikes. And the burrfish, whose spines are always semi-erect. Available as a t-shirt