A beautiful "Leather coral" (Sarcophyton). These prolific corals contain symbiotic zooxanthellae algae. The algae is photosynthetic and produces sugar for the corals. The corals in turn give the algae the nutrients it needs and a prime reef address in which to live. This photo was taken in very clear water in Okinawa at about 10 meters.

A close up of an unusual "Sea cucumber". These slow moving creatures sift through bottom sediment looking for edible detritus. Sea cucumbers have an unusual defense mechanism: when bothered, they will spit out their intestines. These white strands are extremely sticky and will cement to anything, even underwater. Picture taken in Indonesia at 3 meters.

A "Sunburst" coral (Tubastria) photographed at 40 meters in Sri Lanka. These corals rely exclusively on plankton for food. They contain no photosynthetic algae and thus tend to predominate beneath overhangs, or in less well lit areas. The sea in which this particular coral lives is teaming with plankton. These beautiful corals are very popular in the aquarium reef hobby but dont survive well and should not be purchased.

Pictured is a "pulsing" Xenia, so named because the star shaped hands pulse in the water when under strong lighting conditions. This photo was not taken in some ocean, but in my Reef Aquarium! The colony started out as six individual polyps with a base about the size of a quarter. In a short period of time, the colony grew to envelope an area over a hundred times the size of the original. The rapid growth of this coral was unusual, but highlights the type of organism which can flourish in aquaria.

A "Clown" fish (Amphiprion) in its host anemone. Photographed in Saipan, the brilliant orange color is due to the 5500 Kelvin temperature flash. Clown fish are popular and hardy in a reef aquarium, but their host anemones do not fair as well. Most anemones are photosynthetic (containing zooxanthellae algae) and therefore need very strong lighting conditions, excellent water quality, and good laminar water flow. Even with perfect parameters, keeping an anemones such as you see here is very difficult.

Close-up of a "Crown of Thorns" starfish. Blamed for wanton destruction of corals on many reefs throughout the world, the damage caused be these predatory starfish is insignificant compared to the damage wrought by man. In a healthy environment such as this (in Okinawa) even a large population of these starfish wont have an excessive impact on the reef. In fact, the starfish perform a service by killing areas where only a few species of coral predominate thereby giving other corals a chance to move into a prime location on an otherwise crowded reef structure.

This is a type of soft coral called Dendronephthya. These beautiful corals are found in many regions in the Southern Pacific and tend to grow in an area where there is a strong current and poor lighting conditions. Being non-photosynthetic has its advantages in that these corals can grow at much greater depths (well below the level of photosynthetic corals. This photo was taken on a reef wall off Cebu in the Philippines. Wall diving is exceptionally dangerous unless you monitor your depth very carefully.

A Moray Eel pops his head out to greet any passing divers. Despite the eel's menacing appearance, Morays are gentle (but voracious) creatures. Their extremely keen sense of smell leads them to less savory meals, but their function as the reef garbage man is an important one. Eels are very hardy and do well in aquaria. A large tank is better than a small one, and steps must be taken to insure that the eels dont jump (slither would be the better description) out of the top of the tank. This photo was taken in the Maldives at 20 meters.