With frosty winter weather outside, the "sunny" coral reef with all its fish made me feel especially warm and spritely.
As you may imagine, coral reefs are not native to Germany's lakes, rivers, or its border along the Baltic Sea. You would have to go a tropical ocean to find a coral reef.
The aquarium is maintained daily by a staff of certified workers at the Berlin Botanical Gardens.
The reef that Jenny and I saw is, of course, one protected by humans in a controlled environment. But the coral reef at the botanical gardens carries with it an important warning. Posters and signs describe how, all around the world, coral reefs are dying due to human activity. Most of this includes oil pollution, the use of explosives in fishing, and coral mining. Scientists are doing a lot to curb these problems, but the death of coral reefs continues to be an environmental struggle.
