Keep these fun facts and tips handy for your next trip under the sea:

• Corals get their brilliant colors from marine algae that live within their tissues, also known as zooxanthellae (pronounced zoe-zan-thel-ee)

• White out! Prolonged, high water temperatures can cause zooxanthellae to leave corals. When this happens, corals may appear white or “bleached.”

• They may look potentially painful, but Diadema antillerum or long-spined sea urchins are a coral’s best friend. Corals grow slowly and require a special balance of space and sunlight to survive. Fortunately, these prickly ocean herbivores consume harmful macro-algae has the potential to outgrow, envelop, and kill the coral.

• Once dominant on Florida’s reefs, Staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) and Elkhorn (Acropora palmata) corals are now listed as a threatened species on the federal endangered species list.

• In an effort to restore dwindling coral reef habitats, scientists help corals reproduce through an asexual process known as fragmentation. Here, large pieces of stony coral are cut into small fragments which are then attached to little hard discs using an environmentally-friendly adhesive. These discs will later be transplanted to a reef site, where the corals can expand and continue to grow.

• Life savers. Not the candy, the coral! Scientists believe marine corals may hold the key to saving your life. Studies show that organic materials derived from corals may help promote the re-growth of long bones, inhibit cancer-cell division, and improve anti-HIV medicines.

Resources for this article have been provided by the Southeast Florida Coral Reef Initiative, WIkipedia and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.