Scientists have long believed soft corals, one of the many
endangered elements of marine life, are only minor contributors
to the structure of coral reefs. But that's not true, says new
research from Tel Aviv University -- and the preservation of
soft corals is essential to the health of our seas. Joint
research by Tel Aviv University and the Academia Sinica, the
National Museum of Natural Science of Taiwan, and National
Taiwan University has revealed that soft corals, like stony
corals, are one of the central building blocks of a reef, says
Prof. Yehuda Benayahu of TAU's Department of Zoology at the
George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences. A new in-depth analysis
of reefs in the South China Sea has revealed that massive parts
of the reefs are actually made from cemented microscopic
skeletal elements of soft corals termed sclerites. The finding,
which recently appeared in the journal Coral Reefs, challenges
conventional knowledge about soft corals and makes their
conservation a priority. Like whales, dolphins