Picture in your mind snorkeling along the base of a tall cliff that drops straight down into the sea and on into the deep blue. You look down and on that cliff below you are growing what look like hundreds of small trees that are swaying back and forth in the current like palm trees blowing in the wind. But instead of being green these tree-like creatures are bright red, yellow, orange, pink and lavender colors. The sight is just stunning and looks like nothing you have ever seen before.
Picture in your mind snorkeling along the base of a tall cliff that drops straight down into the sea and on into the deep blue. You look down and on that cliff below you are growing what look like hundreds of small trees that are swaying back and forth in the current like palm trees blowing in the wind. But instead of being green these tree-like creatures are bright red, yellow, orange, pink and lavender colors. The sight is just stunning and looks like nothing you have ever seen before.
This vision is real if you have ever dove in a soft coral garden before. Most coral here in Hawaii are rock hard as they have a calcium carbonate skeleton much like concrete. But all throughout the tropical Pacific Ocean there are other types of coral that are soft, as they do not have the hard skeleton and they have the texture of a sea anemone. These soft corals can grow to 20 inches tall and they are all brightly colored. They live on dark underwater cliffs or in caves where there is little sunshine and they get their bright colors from dissolved minerals in the sea water. They filter feed from the ocean currents with small soft stinging polyps catching tiny drifting plants and animals.
Tahiti, Palau, Guam, the Philippines and Mexico all have dozens of species of soft corals but Hawaii only has one species and it is only a few inches tall and grows in dark caves. Why do we have to travel 3,000 miles to dive in a forest of soft corals? Hawaii is unique in the Pacific because our islands are new to break the sea surface and we have lots of big waves with no outer barrier reefs. On the other hand islands like Tahiti are over 10 million years old and corals have built up on the outer reefs which creates calm lagoons. Soft coral cannot deal with big waves and that is why our corals here in Hawaii are rock hard so they can take the impact of the grinding surf.
Tiny fish larvae drift in currents all the way across the sea and that is how our fish species got here all the way from islands like Tahiti. I am sure these currents also have baby floating soft corals in them along with the fish but when the soft coral arrives in Hawaii it gets obliterated in a 40-foot wave at Waimea Bay!
For now if you want to see the stunning colorful soft corals you will need to take a 3,000 mile trip or just watch my movie about the marine life in Palau at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHhsrHrXh_o&authuser=0 or if you have the time you can wait around a few million years for Hawaii to develope outer barrier reefs then we will have our own soft coral gardens!
Hawaii is a very unique island chain because we are so new and even now new land is being added to the big island of Hawaii. The only marine life that can live in Hawaiian waters must be able to deal with giant surf and very few species have that ability. This is why Hawaii only has about 24 species of hard corals versus the Philippines has over 1,000 coral species.
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Terry Lilley is a marine biologist living in Hanalei Kauai and co-founder of Reef Guardians Hawaii, a nonprofit on a mission to provide education and resources to protect the coral reef. To donate to Reef Guardians Hawaii go to reefguardians.org
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