DISTRIBUTION

Coral reefs are found within the Tropics (between 25°N and 25°S of the equator). Even within this broad band we find some areas where coral reefs simply do not occur.

See if you can guess why this is:

• Mississippi delta: fresh water and sediment discharge
• Amazon: fresh water and sediment discharge
• West coast of South America: cold water upwelling and cold northerly currents
• Ganges: deposits 1.7 billion tons of sediment into the Bay of Bengal annually
• West coast of Africa: cold water upwelling

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