The Secret Reef Factory

Coral reefs are secretly running a twenty-four hour microbial factory that nobody talks about.

Every morning, sunlight hits the reef, and corals release chemicals that act

like alarm clocks. Trillions of bacteria wake up, processing nutrients and cycling energy in

a perfectly timed choreography. At night, different signals call in a new

crew of microorganisms for the night shift. This invisible heartbeat keeps the ocean

functioning. Without it, the whole system would collapse.