Among the larger associates of coral reefs are the 

 loggerhead, hawksbill and green turtles, which move 

 to the sandy beaches to lay their eggs. Between the 

 reef and the land, on grassy or sand bottoms the sting 

 rays and leopard rays are common and much more 

 rarely the giant manta ray or devilfish is seen. 



Thus, not only the coral, but a complex community 

 of animals living together really comprise the living reef. 

 Some break down the rock and some build it up, but 

 all contribute in some form or other to the rock, sand, 

 mud and detritus. Crevices between the smaller parti- 

 cles are filled in with dead limestone skeletons of the 

 microscopic foraminifera and other tiny creatures which 

 drift suspended in the seawater during their short lives 

 and which add to the bottom deposits when they die. 

 When the mass of rock and sand is raised above the 

 surface the rain dissolves lime from the surface and 

 redeposiis it as a cement below. In this manner the 

 smaller grains and larger boulders were fused together 

 to form the solid coral rock which is now underlying 

 the soil of the Florida Keys and certain other parts of 

 the Atlantic coral area, where the earth movements 

 mentioned in Chapter 3 have raised the older reefs 

 above sea level. 



54 



