Over the years, the Caribbean Sea has witnessed great events and incredible stories and events that have marked the course of the American continent.
The first approach with greater historical importance that has the American continent with the European, is through the arrival of Christopher Columbus to an island in the Caribbean Sea. From the arrival of Europeans to the American continent, the waters of the Caribbean became the main trade route between the two continents.
At present, the Caribbean has become one of the main tourist destinations in the world; The color of its waters, its beaches and the great climate it enjoys are some of the attractions that attract the attention of people from different parts of the world. Beyond its paradisiac beaches, its great climate and the great tourist infrastructure that has been armed around to satisfy the needs and pleasures of the thousands of tourists who visit it, but the great attraction and treasure that owns its waters is underneath them, With its coral reefs, which look like underwater gardens, but actually the coral is an animal.
Coral is an animal, and its way of life is through a symbiosis with an algae called “zooxanthella”, which is responsible for making photosynthesis and generate energy so that the organism can live and not totally dependent on what it can capture for feed. The energy provided by the zooxanthella is of vital importance, one of the reasons why the water of the caribbean is very clear is because there is not much plankton, and for that reason the coral could not survive without this association, since no there is a lot of food.
The coral, through the zooxantela in the day makes the process of photosynthesis and many of the fish and species that live on the reef feed on the coral, or hunt near it, reefs are like natural aquariums, conditions and situations that are Generate around them make it home to many species. Reefs serve as protection for many species, for some it serves as a hunting ground, or for shelter from predators.
In recent decades the coral has been threatened by global warming, causing coral bleaching. With increasing temperatures in the ocean, the zooxanthella can not live inside the coral and has to leave, causing coral death and the phenomenon of “coral bleaching.” The Mesoamerican barrier is found along the coasts of Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico. This barrier is one of the most important in the world, 40% of the barrier is on the Mexican coast; Akumal, Cancun, Paya del Carmen, Puerto Morelos, Tulum and mainly in Cozumel. The Mesoamerican barrier is one of the most important in the world, unequivocally is also being affected by global warming. In Cozumel there is a program in charge of assisting the restoration of the coral by the “Cozumel Coral Reef Restoration Program” led by Dr. German Méndez and other biologists. The program seeks to plant corals and make people aware of the serious problem of letting one of the planet’s richest ecosystems die. Coral reefs are of utmost importance to humans, in times of hurricanes, reefs along with mangroves help to diminish the power of waves and underwater currents. Currently many of the drugs that help to cure cancer are made from coral. Losing these ecosystems would be devastating for humans and also for all the species that depend on it, reefs are home to many species.
