Tropical holidays and poisoning. Why are corals and reefs dangerous? Fire coral (Milleporidae) Fire coral

Living Coral or food for emotions. This is exactly what the 2019 fashion verdict from the Pantone Institute sounds like. Quite often, when Pantone announces the “ruling the show” color, women hold their heads with tearful lamentations: “The color, of course, is beautiful... In the pictures. And in real life how to wear it? What to combine with?!” And they voluntarily abandon the trend in favor of the good old familiar.

Fortunately, Living Coral turned out to be much more loyal than we all thought. the site has compiled a convenient navigator for the most fashionable color of the year: where, how, when and what to wear coral with.

We receive energy from nature, just as a coral reef provides food and shelter for sea ​​life. Bright but soft PANTONE 16−1546 Living Coral welcomes us into its warm and caring embrace.
Laurie Pressman, Vice President, Pantone Color Institute

Indeed, if we try to describe Living Coral with adjectives, which ones come to mind? To us: warm, affectionate, light, cozy. It's refreshing. And inspiring. And it even gives you a little inspiration!

Make up

If you think that coral is not your thing, you just got the wrong shade. In one form or another, coral suits absolutely everyone, it’s just that hot brunettes need a warm color, and “angelic” blue-eyed blondes need a cool white undertone. For fiery red lionesses, this is generally an outlet: experiment - I don’t want to.
Coral lipstick, blush and even a little eye shadow instantly refreshes your face. Essentially, this is the same peach, but it sounds more pretentious.
We just remember: playing with shades - like a fashionable Minesweeper. Step to the left and you hit a trend bomb. Therefore, be sure to swatch cosmetics on your hand before purchasing. Try out all the lipsticks in the store, but damn it, find your perfect coral!

Dress on

Do you know that color is a powerful psychological tool? And wearing boring gray every day is fraught with depression.! Our clients should be the most beautiful and happy! Therefore, we call upon the power of Living Coral to color your workdays: take into account bright eco-fur coats, pleated skirts, Chanel-style tweed suits, shawls and, of course, handbags. It's so cute and feminine!

There is no need to completely update your wardrobe at the behest of a fashion verdict, just add a few touches of coral to the eye to delight the eye with a delicate color palette.
A secret to the whole world: Coral is a real magnet of interested male gazes! ;)
What to combine with? With deep blue, light blue, cornflower blue, emerald, khaki, lemon and beige.

Jewelry

Finally we got to our favorite section! What can add more color to an image than jewelry?! And what could be more relevant in the year of Living Coral than coral jewelry? Indeed, among sea gifts, coral is on the list of the most valuable.
Who else but Ukrainian beauties love and wear coral beads, bracelets, earrings and rings! After all, this is a mandatory attribute of our national, ethnic costume. Let's just remember these luxurious coral threads on the necks of our great-grandmothers...

Delicate coral can be on a strap wristwatch, precious inclusions, sparkling crystal or enamel pattern. Rose gold is another variation of it.
Accessories make the difference in our hearts - you shouldn’t skimp on your mental well-being!

The final argument in favor of Living Coral

You don’t need to think that the leading color of the year is chosen according to the “finger in the sky” principle. The Pantone Institute is the main authority on color issues. The key connotation is based on cultural events, fashion trends, technology, interior design, sports and other important social aspects. Therefore, “sociable and friendly” Coral is designed to give new, lively emotions to our world, mired in virtual communication!

Red Sea- transparent, crystal clear - elemental. The sea is quiet and deep, joyfully calling and quietly whispering tells the old oriental tales. The sea, I am in the transparent emerald-colored depths, the sun refracts its rays on the foamy spray, the sea is in me and I am inside the sea. An endless expanse of water, and down there in the depths it’s amazingly beautiful underwater world, living his unsolved life, attracting millions of people seeking to know the unknown. Among them there are harmless and aggressive, fearful and poisonous. So who are they? dangerous inhabitants red sea? Today we'll talk about them. Let's start with the most harmless ones:

10. Corals They are brightly colored and you just want to touch them, but there is a special reticulated fire coral (Millepora dichotoma) that, although it looks like coral, is not one. Fire corals are hydroid species or polyjellyfish that form large colonies on reefs in tropical waters, where there is a strong current and a lot of light. They grow very quickly and look like flat bushes with short double branches. Millepores look very picturesque. Bright yellow or brown colors, nice roundness at the end of the branch. You just want to break off a piece as a souvenir, but this is where the stinging cells (nematocytes) are located, with which the fire coral burns. The burn site does not heal for a long time and brings a lot of discomfort to its owner. It swells, a blister appears and the lymph nodes become very enlarged. It is better to immediately rinse such a wound with sea water, removing all remnants of coral and treat it with vinegar or alcohol, and if necessary, consult a doctor. It is also worth paying attention to sea ​​sponges. Sponges– although these multicellular creatures are primitive, some species, such as Redbeards and Fire Sponges, can cause allergic reactions in humans in the form of a rash. Providing assistance is the same as for a coral burn.

9. Starfish, colorful and so harmless, always attract the interest of divers. Among these species, there is really only one species " crown of thorns"(Acanthaster planci) can harm humans. The color scheme of these not small creatures (their length is from 25 to 35 cm, although there are particularly large specimens with a diameter of up to 50 cm) can be very different from gray-blue to brown, from bright orange to poisonous yellow. Typically, the “Crown of Thorns” has 12–19 rays, and with age their number can increase to 23. The entire body of the star is covered with long poisonous needles up to 3 cm long. The injection can be quite painful and may cause swelling, rash, nausea and bleeding. The first thing to do is to immerse the limb in hot water and apply a bandage to prevent further spread of the poison, then see a doctor.

8 Sea urchins. They look like prickly balls that pierce any neoprene. If you come across sea ​​urchin, burning pain, shortness of breath and rapid heartbeat appear at the injection site. First aid, as with a starfish injection: remove the needles, disinfect, keep in hot water and apply a tourniquet, go to the doctor.

7. Clearfin Lionfish belongs to the scorpionfish family (Scorpaenidae) - a majestic and leisurely fish. There are many species of this family, and you can often find fish underwater - the zebra (Common Lionfish) and the Russells Lionfish. These are night hunters who hunt down small fish like a pack of wolves. And they love to swim on the edge of light and shadow. Their bodies are painted with bright stripes, and their luxurious fins hide sharp poisonous thorns. The injections of these insidious creatures cause severe pain, up to anaphylactic shock. A person may experience cramps and rapid heartbeat, nausea, vomiting, numbness, dizziness, diarrhea, and excessive sweating. Some experts claim that lionfish venom is not inferior to cobra venom, although not a single death has occurred in official medicine from this creature was not recorded! In any case, it is better to stay away from all representatives of the scorpion family and carefully watch your step.

6. Sea snakes– the name alone chills the soul and although the poison sea ​​reptiles 10 times stronger than its land relative, the cobra, it acts on the human body very slowly. Don't think that sea ​​snakes They rush at people at the first opportunity. In fact, they rarely attack them and in most cases they try to swim away from annoying divers. However, if you like to dive in dense underwater thickets, then you may simply not notice the snake there. Only a few hours after the bite may muscle spasms and drooping eyelids begin. Apply a tourniquet above the bite site and consult a doctor as soon as possible.

5. Gray reef shark(and you thought we forgot about it?) is the most common type of reef shark in the Red Sea. Usually the gray reef shark lives at depths of up to 270-280 meters. She loves clean water with a strong current. Often lives on the leeward side of the reef. The gray reef shark has an average size of 1.5 to 2.5 meters. The gray reef shark (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) is a curious creature, but unless provoked, it is unlikely to attack. It is easy to anger a shark during the mating season, when it may consider you a competitor. Sharks also do not like camera flashes. The shark expresses its aggression quite clearly; it arches its back, raises its muzzle and lowers its pectoral fins. In this case, you should not hesitate; it is better to leave its territory without fuss, swimming away facing the shark. If it continues to swim towards you, try to dodge to the side when approaching. And although a person is quite a big prey for her, she can cause serious wounds.

You need to provide first aid to the victim slowly, clean the wound, but be careful, the person may experience a painful shock and your actions will cause an even stronger reaction from the victim. The wound may bleed heavily, so it is necessary to stop the bleeding until a doctor appears. To do this, you must use the direct pressure method. A pressure bandage or tourniquet is best. No less effective way It will happen if you simply wrap the limbs in a circular tug. Of course, in an emergency situation, a tourniquet may not be at hand, and this is exactly what happens in 99% of cases; you can use any available material. This could be a rubber tube, scarf, belt, rope, etc.

After you have tried to stop the bleeding, the wound must be treated. This should be a solution of iodine, potassium permanganate, alcohol, vodka, cologne. If you have a cotton swab or gauze, wet them with one of the solutions and treat the edges of the wound from the outside.

There is no need to pour anything into the wound itself. This will not only increase the already severe pain, but will also damage the tissue, slowing down the healing process. If you were wounded in the stomach, you cannot eat or drink anything. After treatment, a bandage is applied to the abdomen.

4. Moray eels- belong to the eel-shaped ray-finned fish and are always shrouded in secrets and legends. Either creepy appearance moray eels or their secrecy encourage our creative consciousness to hang all sorts of evil labels on them. In fact, moray eels are shy and hide in the crevices of reefs. The Red Sea is home to quite a few species of moray eels, for example: Giant moray, Yellowheaded morey, Yellowmouth morey, Undulate morey, Dragon morey, Zebra moray (Zebra morey), White-eyed morey, Peppered morey, Honeycomb morey, Yellow-edged morey, etc. Unfortunately, in lately Instances have become more frequent when, in order to attract clients, local diving clubs offer divers to hand-feed moray eels. For everyone who values ​​their hands, remember that moray eels see poorly, but they sense meat perfectly and they don’t care whether it’s a piece of food or a diver’s fingers. A hundred people will feed her and everything will be fine, but 101 will pay for everyone. This is not a pet. Moray eels – smart predators and if something gets into their mouth, they practically do not unclench their jaws, digging into their prey with a bulldog grip. If they help you get rid of her grip, urgently disinfect the wound and go to the doctor to treat the wound and head.

We've reached the top three. Let's find out more about them!

3. Stingrays belong to the class of chordates - Elasmobranchii - Cartilaginous fish.

Electric rays (Torpediniformes) range in size from small – 12-15 cm long, to large – up to 2 m long and weighing up to 100 kg. Unlike other rays, electric rays are often brightly colored. On the sides of the head there are paired electrical organs formed by modified muscle tissue. Animal electricity is condensed in the electrical organs. The discharge is carried out arbitrarily under the influence of brain impulses. A single discharge lasts 0.003-0.05 s, but usually the stingray produces a series of 20-30 discharges in quick succession. The discharge voltage can reach from 60 to 300 volts with a current of up to 5 amperes. Such a shake causes paralytic shock, severe pain, swelling, and muscle cramps. The victim of an electric stingray must be pulled out of the water, placed in the shade and given peace. Another representative of this species that is dangerous to humans is the stingray (Dasyatidae) which has a wide disc, a powerful tail at the base and a thinning tail at the end. In the middle part of the tail, these creatures have dagger-shaped spines that can grow up to 37 cm long. The tail strike is similar to the attack of a scorpion - the tail bends forward and the stingray delivers a powerful blow with a whip-like movement. The poison, penetrating the wound, causes sharp pain, a drop in blood pressure, tachycardia, vomiting, and paralysis. A thorn that gets into the wound should only be removed surgically, because often it breaks off in the wound and can cause a secondary fungal, bacterial or mixed infection. After the injection, the wound must be cleaned, disinfected, the damaged part of the body should be kept in very hot water (at least 50 C), and then a pressure bandage should be applied and urgently consult a doctor.

2. Cones. Cone clams, the shells from which we listen to the sound of the sea and enjoy memories of vacation, may not be so safe. The marine gastropod hides in its beautiful mother-of-pearl shell and, in case of danger, releases its spine located at the edge of the shell. Their habitat is quite large, including western part Indo-Pacific region, which includes the Red Sea. All cones are predators and feed on snails, sea worms and even fish. These latter ones are the most dangerous for people. Despite poor eyesight, the cone has very developed olfactory organs. Burying itself in the sand, it waits for the victim, sensing the approach of prey, and plunges its proboscis into it, in which there are many small teeth - harpoons. Instantly injects toxic poison and paralyzes its victim. The cones have a special poison, which includes 50 different types toxins and has no antidote. The most dangerous of them is the Geographical cone (Conus geographus), which leads night look life. According to statistics, out of 10 bites, three are fatal. The bite causes severe, increasing pain, convulsions, profuse salivation, difficulty swallowing, gastrointestinal upset, and difficulty speaking. The victim must be urgently hospitalized, and before that, examine the wound, remove the remains of the thorn, treat with alcohol and immobilize the affected part of the body, apply a pressure bandage.

1. The leader of our TOP 10 “The most dangerous inhabitants of the Red Sea”, is…

Stonefish or wartfish(Red Sea Walkman - “Red Sea Pedestrian”) - master of camouflage. Buried in the sand, she can lie motionless on the bottom for hours. She merges with the environment that it is practically impossible to notice it, and it is precisely this camouflage that makes it the winner of our rating “The most dangerous inhabitants of the Red Sea.” Its back can be deadly to humans, because it has a number of spines that release poison. The pain from the injection is so severe that the person wants to cut off his wounded limbs. If the poison enters the vessel, then without rendering medical care, death occurs within 2-3 hours. The main symptoms are pain, shock and death of the limbs, depending on the depth of penetration. Injured people may still feel unpleasant symptoms. By the way, English name warts - “pedestrian”. When she gets tired of lying on the bottom, she uses the rays of her pectoral fins to “walk” along the seabed and often leaves noticeable grooves in the sand behind her. When injecting any representatives of scorpionfish, the wound must be washed, disinfected, to neutralize the poison, hold the damaged part of the body in very hot water for half an hour and apply a pressure bandage. After first aid, consult a doctor immediately.

He who is forewarned is forearmed! Your safety is in your hands:

1. Wear special shoes. Neoprene slippers have an affordable price, but they can give you much more - the safety of your feet. But even wearing them, you shouldn’t walk in shallow water on the outside of the reef. The spines of some sea creatures are very long and can accidentally hit an unprotected part of the body.

2. Do not splash around in puddles during low tide; some types of fish, such as stingrays, can bury themselves in wet sand and wait for the tide.

3. Divers are prohibited from swimming alone, but some daredevils still break the rules. While diving, do not feed the fish or attract their attention with fresh blood. If you cut yourself somewhere or have wounds that may bleed, it is better not to take risks and not swim in the water. If the fish behaves aggressively in the event of an attack, hit it on the head or snout - these are the most vulnerabilities, feeling resistance, she can swim away herself.

4. Removing any needle spikes from wounds must be done very carefully so that they do not break or crumble further. Take a soft rag or some kind of napkin and carefully pull out the foreign object. Even if you were not able to remove everything, limestone needles or thorns eventually dissolve in our body and come out of it without consequences. The main thing in such cases is to thoroughly disinfect the wound so that infection does not begin.

5. It would be nice to be able to do artificial respiration and know the basics of first aid for bites, cuts, etc.

6. Be sure to take a first aid kit with you, which should contain ointments such as tetracycline, erythromycin, as well as iodine and brilliant green. IN Arab countries titles medicines write to Arabic and it’s not a fact that they speak English at the pharmacy.

7. Those who like to swim with a mask and snorkel should not swim into unfamiliar areas; it is better to wear short swimming trunks and a special thin neoprene T-shirt (1 - 1.5 mm will be enough) for protection from sunlight and accidental contact with poisonous inhabitants Red Sea, choose reefs for swimming so that the depth is at least 2 meters, do not feed, do not pet the fish, do not kiss the fish for selfies, do not break, do not unscrew, do not even touch the corals and if anything happens to you unexpected troubles, stay calm and seek help.

underwater world red sea beautiful and everything in nature is harmonious. A person discovers water element to contemplate, enjoy and explore the unknown. Don't kiss moray eels or feed sharks - they're not pets. We are just guests in this world, and we will be polite and reasonable, and then we will not be afraid of any poisonous creatures. Even dives to everyone.

The Milleporidae family, or fire (stinging) corals, are very dangerous to humans. Every year, more than 1,500 people suffer from burns from stinging corals around the world.

Danger:

The basis of coral is made up of polyps - marine invertebrate animals measuring 1-1.5 millimeters or slightly larger (depending on the species). As soon as it is born, the polyp begins to build a cell house in which it spends its entire life. Micro-houses of polyps are grouped into colonies, the same “trees”, “shrubs”, “mushrooms”... When hungry, the polyp sticks out tentacles with many stinging cells from the “house”. The smallest animals that make up the plankton encounter the tentacles of the polyp, which paralyzes the victim and sends it into the mouth. Despite their microscopic size, the stinging cells of polyps are very different complex structure. Inside the cell there is a capsule filled with poison. The outer end of the capsule is concave and looks like a thin spirally twisted tube called a stinging filament. This tube, covered with tiny spines directed backwards, resembles a miniature harpoon. When touched, the stinging thread straightens, the “harpoon” pierces the victim’s body, and the poison passing through it paralyzes the prey. Poisoned coral harpoons can also injure humans.

Brief description:

The two main species are Millepora dichotoma - usually yellow-brown with white tips, branched, and Millepora platyphylla - wavy, upright with white tips.

NET MILLEPORA (Millepora dichotoma).
Fans up to 60 cm can form elevations of up to several meters. From mustard to olive-yellow, branching colonies in one plane. On open upper slopes, 0-15m. Abundant on most Red Sea reefs.

PLATE MILLEPORA (Millepora platyphylla).
Individual plates up to 60 cm form elevations up to several meters high. Mustard to olive yellow, lumpy plates. It lives on reef slopes, in lagoons and on reef shallows, from 0 to 15 m. It is found in less open places than millepora reticulata, and does not sting as much.

Warning:

They settle close to the shore, and this is no longer safe for those who like to dive. Corals are so beautiful that many cannot resist the temptation to tear off a piece as a souvenir. And after that they have to regret it for a long time. You can probably imagine how painful it can be after coming into contact with a red-hot iron. This is approximately the same feeling from a burn from this coral. Often, after burns, long-term non-healing ulcers form on the skin.

There have been no recorded cases of death from coral poisoning, but you can still die. After all, the pain is so intense that you can easily fall into a state of shock or lose consciousness. But being at depth, it’s deadly. If there is no one nearby to help, you may not surface.

Since fire corals are motionless, it goes without saying that they do not attack humans. In every case when people suffer, only the person himself is to blame. Remember once and for all - do not touch what is unfamiliar to you. Otherwise, you can stumble upon stinging corals - it seems that this is a cute plant, you try to touch it and get a severe burn.

Oddly enough, despite their name, fire corals are not corals at all. They live among real corals, but they themselves are false. They are colonies of polyps that look like huge, branched lime trees.

There are 2 types of polyps living in the colony. Inside are those responsible for reproduction and digestion of food. But outside - the most dangerous ones, with stinging cells, contain strong poison: they catch prey and guard the entire coral, stinging anyone who dares to touch. Wounds received in contact with this coral are painful and usually shallow, but they take a long time to heal and can even turn into trophic ulcers. After a severe burn, an eczema-like swelling is visible even after two months. Allergy sufferers may go into shock.

The dragon lived on the top of a dark mountain. He found himself a deep and spacious cave, arranged it to his liking and lived peacefully. He loved to listen to the singing of the storm, protected forests from fires, and on hot days, with his wings, he drove cold air from the mountain to the valley so that animals, plants and people would enjoy the coolness.

Nobody knows how long he lived on the lonely mountain. It seemed to people that he had always been there. But dragons don't count days. What's the point of the bill? Does it matter how many times he flew around his domain? After all, every day is different. And every day the dragon was again surprised by the beauty that surrounded him. Each time the water seemed new sweet to him, and the rain alternately beat and stroked his thick skin. No, the dragon did not keep track of the changes of day and night. Each time the dragon rejoiced that the sun rose and that it sank in the sea waves.

Sea... The dragon loved to fly over the sea at night, scratching the waves with its tail. When the water and sky became one, the daughter of the sea king came out to the dragon and sang to him with a silver voice. The dragon closed his eyes and listened, listened, listened...

One night he saw a lonely boat at sea. And then the head of a young diver appeared next to her in the moonlight. The dragon lay down on a cloud and watched as the young man dived into the depths over and over again and returned sadly to the boat. Last time he was gone for a very long time. And then someone’s thin hands from the water pushed the young man to the surface.

He lay at the bottom of the boat and did not breathe, his skin seemed transparent in the moonlight. And then the dragon, instead of the usual singing, heard crying. His mermaid cried bitterly, sitting next to the unlucky diver.

Dragons don't cry. They see too much during their long dragon life, so that if dragons cried, the whole earth would drown in their salty tears.

Dragons see hearts. When the human heart flares up true love, it turns into a dragon's heart.

The dragon sighed. He took in more air and flew over the sea waves, spewing fire from his mouth.

The flame sank into the black depths of the ocean. And then fire gardens burst into flames on the dark bottom. The mermaid dived and returned with a sprig of fire coral. She placed it on the young man’s chest and... a huge dragon soared from the boat into the sky...

While the flames blossomed into gardens on the seabed, the old dragon flew to his cave and tiredly lay down on the stones. Nothing can make the human heart beat again. Either it’s a dragon thing... Even if it’s in a person’s chest.

When a dragon dies, it leaves behind a sprig of fire coral. The frozen flame of a hot dragon heart. They say that in clear weather, when the surface of the water is smooth as glass, the magnificent gardens and palace of the sea king can be seen from the shore. And on a moonlit night you can see the dragon listening to the magical songs of the mermaid, and on a lonely mountain the frozen flame of the great dragon burns with a bright flame.

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The most dangerous coral that can harm a swimmer or aquarist is the fire coral, also known as millepora, and it is not a coral at all. More precisely, coral, but not a real one, but a very distant coral relative. What they have in common is only that they belong to the type of primitive animals ( Cnidaria). But the classes in this type are different: they belong to the class Anthozoa, which is called that in Russian, coral polyps. And fire corals belong to the class Hydrozoa, which are called hydroids, or polypomedusae, less often - hydrocorals.

We’ll remember about jellyfish later, but for now let’s find out why hydroids of the genus Millepora ( Millepora) are called corals. Yes, because they look similar from afar. And up close it is difficult to discern the difference with the naked eye. Millepores, like real corals, form colonies: massive, lamellar and branched. Colonies are hard to the touch, with a strong mineral skeleton of lime-impregnated fibers and tubes.

But the differences are visible only with a careful examination of the skeletons. In true corals, the polyps sit in their own cups, more or less pronounced in different species (top picture). In fire corals, the surface of the colony's body is smooth, but riddled with pores (bottom picture). Millepora is translated into Russian as multiporous. Polyps sit in these pores.

Functionally, polyps are divided into two groups.

The defense of the colony is provided by dactylozoids: thin long polyps, armed with a varying number of irregularly located tentacles thickened at the ends, but lacking a mouth. Dactylozoans sit in dactylopores scattered throughout the body of the colony, sometimes in an orderly manner, and sometimes completely chaotically. On the tentacles of dactylozoans there are stinging cells - nematocytes, also known as cnidocytes. Nematocytes serve for defense; it is with them that the fire coral burns, as do other cnidarians.

Nematocysts carry combat intracellular structures - nematocysts (cnidocysts). On the outside of the nematocyte there is a special bristle - a cnidocil, which, when irritated, fires. Having received a signal from the cnidocil, the nematocyst literally turns inside out, rds spitting a stinging thread. The end of the thread pierces the body of the victim and poison pours out of the thread.

The colony is fed by gastrozoids (feeding polyps) located in the gastropores. These are short and thick polyps. For feeding, they have a mouth and a corolla of 4-6 tentacles, so short that they are called nematocyte tubercles. The task of these polyps is to hunt and digest prey. All gastrozoids of one colony open with their lower ends into the vascular network that penetrates the skeleton. This network allows individual polyps to exchange nutrients.

Some sources indicate that only dactylozoans hunt planktonic animals, after which they transfer the prey to gastrozoans for digestion. Around each gastrozoid 5-9 dactylozoids are grouped.

Polyps are completely retracted into the pores of the skeleton and are poorly visible from the outside. The maximum that can be seen on a living coral is the white fluff of the tentacles covering its surface. The tentacles are spread out day and night in search of prey, but when in danger they can quickly retract inside.

In addition to food obtained by gastrozoids, the colony also feeds on symbiotic algae.

As I have already written about many other groups of cnidarians, experts do not have a consensus on the number of species of this genus. In the latest report on the taxonomy of cnidarians, the number of species was reduced to 7, although previously there were almost 50 of them.

Fire corals come in cream, brown, yellow and even purple, but their typical color is mustard. The shape of fire corals can be quite bizarre, since they grow not only on inanimate objects, but also on sessile invertebrates, especially gorgonian soft corals.

Millipores are widespread in tropical and subtropical waters of the World Ocean on coral reefs and in shallow waters with strong currents. For reasons unknown to biologists, they are not on the reefs Hawaiian Islands. Along with true corals, fire corals are important reef builders.

Reproduction of millipores is sexual and asexual. During sexual reproduction, small jellyfish with 4-5 tubercles of nematocytes emerge from the colony. The life of jellyfish does not last long, only a few hours, but during this time they manage to form germ cells and sweep them into the water. After fertilization, a free-living planktonic planula larva is obtained, which soon settles from the plankton onto the substrate and forms a new colony.

There is also a non-jellyfish variant of sexual reproduction. More precisely, half-jellyfish-free. U Millepora murrayi eggs develop directly in the body of the colony and are released into plankton directly from the colony, while sperm develop in jellyfish

During asexual reproduction, fragments break off from the colony for one reason or another, which favorable circumstances attach to the substrate and give rise to a new colony

IN recent years Millipores have become fashionable inhabitants of marine aquariums.

Despite the stinging tentacles, fire corals are home to many tenants, mainly fish and shrimp. You can often see one that has set up an observation post on the top of the coral.

For humans, contact with fire coral can be quite painful. The palm or finger may be too thick-skinned to burn, but more sensitive areas of the skin will be hurt. Pain or burning may begin 5-30 minutes after contact with coral. The burn itself is not dangerous, but in rare cases an allergic reaction may develop (the toxin is of a protein nature). As a rule, it all ends with nausea and a runny nose, which goes away after a couple of hours. Swelling, blisters, and swollen lymph nodes may develop, which disappear within a day, and in the unlucky, within two weeks. In addition to being burned by stinging cells, fire coral can simply cut the skin with its sharp edges.

• Rinse the affected area with sea water. Fresh water There is no need to wash it, it will only make the pain worse.
• Apply a swab of vinegar or isopropyl alcohol to the wound (I don’t know why isopropyl alcohol and where to get it on the beach, try any strong alcohol).
• Remove visible tentacles from the skin with tweezers.
• If an arm or leg is affected, immobilize the limb as movement may spread the venom.
• If the burn is very itchy, apply hydrocortisone ointment 2-3 times a day. Immediately stop applying this ointment if there is even the slightest suspicion of infection.
• If shortness of breath develops after exposure to coral fire; swelling of the tongue, face or throat - treat allergies. If no signs allergic reaction no, pain can be controlled with 1-2 tablets of acetaminophen (Tylenol) every 4 hours and/or 1-2 tablets of ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) every 6-8 hours.

But it is better not to self-medicate, but to consult a doctor.