CORAL : a project by Luc Jacquet / 2024

KEY ASPECTS OF THE STORY

19- AN IMPORTANT APPOINTMENT The eggs of the fish that live on the reef are mostly laid in passes, where the current ensures a plentiful supply of oxygen. All the newborns find themselves cast out in the deep waters. They must then make their way back to the reef, and generally do so at the same time and on a given date (e.g. the full moon). 20- NEVER JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER, DECORATION, OR PERFECT CAMOUFLAGE The relativity of the mobile and the immobile. A sea anemone appears as if fixed in place, but all at once it begins to move very quickly. It is in fact attached to the shell of a hermit crab. The anemone suddenly sprouts antennae, two gleaming eyes, feet deploy beneath its cloak, a part of the reef moves and the hermit crab flees. A tiny crab seems to have requisitioned virtually every kind of organism on the reef to camouflage itself. Along with others of its kind, it competes to see who the best mimic is. 21- THE WELCOMING HOSTS OF THE REEF Exploring the reef, one sometimes comes too close to a living cave, the most formidable. The stonefish. Perfectly camouflaged, it even allows seaweed to grow on its shell to maintain the illusion. Equally

discreet, the weedy scorpionfish resembles a mass of algae, its wide- open mouth like a cave with too-bright walls. The red lionfish swims around gracefully, sending a clear message that it is not to be trifled with, before returning to its cave where it will wait for night to fall, and food to emerge.

22- SNAKES SLIP THROUGH THE REEF

A wave roots around the nooks and crannies of the reef. It is a sea krait, a type of sea snake, and it is on the hunt.

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