A look at the ingenious world of corals

A coral colony usually consists of thousands of little coral animals, or polyps, as seen in this picture. Each polyp is like a tiny anemone (or jellyfish on its back) which secretes a calcium carbonate, or limestone skeleton on/in which it lives. A colony may begin with just one polyp, to stretch over many metres in diameter as it grows, adding more and more polyps.

Corals can produce fascinating structures!

Montego Bay is home to a variety of coral and limestone underwater formations, including boulder monolithic colonies and structures.

The amazing trees that survive in salt water

Mangroves are tropical, salt tolerant trees that are found throughout the equatorial seas. The Caribbean is home to three species: red, white and black.

Mangroves are important to a marine ecosystem for many reasons...

Larger creatures found in the marine park

Rays and sharks are but a few of the wonderful animals that live in the marine park. All of them are perfectly docile and will not cause any problems.

Moray Eels - The curious reef dweller

Moray eels eat a variety of animals including: fish, mollusks, crustaceans and whatever else they can catch or find.

If you look carefully at the animals, they look like sponges or branching corals of the reef. A big green moray looks like a green upright sponge, while Goldentail morays look like Finger Coral (Porites porites). This camouflage deceives the eels prey...