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Colourful Coral Pulses With Life In Stunning Time-Lapse Video

Beautiful!
Antonio Rodriguez

Think of coral, and you probably envision a reef lying motionless on the ocean floor. But the mesmerizing time-lapse video above, along with the still images below, remind us that reefs are created by the ceaseless activity of tiny animals called polyps.

Barcelona-based photographer Antonio Rodriguez Canto created the video by combining more than 25,000 separate macro photos of various coral species (though marine biologists The Huffington Post consulted say the video’s last two segments feature a giant clam and a tube worm rather than coral polyps).

Antonio Rodriguez

Rodriguez tweaked the colors a bit via special lighting and some post-production color adjustments, he told HuffPost in an email, and then set the whole thing to music.

Entitled “Colorful Corals,” the video wasn’t created just for yucks. It has another purpose, according to its creators:

“We like to think that with this work, we have put a small grain of sand to raise your attention about the Great Barrier Reef, one of the natural wonders of our world, endangered because of global warming and because of the industrial projects of the Government of Australia.”

The Great Barrier Reef has indeed been hard hit by climate change ― and environmentalists have criticized Australia for its policies regarding port expansions, dredging and shipping in and around the reef.

Here’s to reefs everywhere!

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