Many animals live near corals. Corals provide food through the food chain they support. Corals also provide shelter from predators and from ocean waves and currents.

This picture shows a single Sea Rod Coral colony growing from a sand and coral bottom near Rainbow Reef. This single colony was only 3 feet tall, but there are five different kinds of fish using this coral as a shelter. The large fish with the yellow and black tail is a Blue-Striped Grunt. The red fish in front of it is a Squirrelfish. The striped fish above it is a White Grunt. The small yellow fish with its head behind the stalk of the Sea Rod Coral is a French Grunt. Look closely, and you will see the long, slender, yellow body of a Trumpetfish hiding among the branches of the Sea Rod with its tail pointed almost straight up.

These fishes form a mixed-species school. Like a school of fish containing fish of the same species, the fishes in this school help each other keep watch for predators.

Learn more about the reefs of Bimini on the ReefNews Bimini webpages.