Having the bush-like branching appearance of a plant, madrepores are in fact animals with an outer skeleton, closely related to sea anemones. They belong to the phylum Cnidaria. Also called hard corals, they build the remarkable reefs of the tropics.
Whatever their shapes: branch-like, solid, encrusting, they are made of several thousand polyps (or exceptionally, only one). Each polyp looks like a sac, with a single opening surrounded by a crown of stinging tentacles. Endowed with this weapon, the coral can defend itself, but it also paralyzes small planktonic prey which is quickly digested inside the polyps stomach cavity.
Madrepores house within their tissues tiny, single-celled, organisms called Zooxanthellae. Photosynthetic, they use the energy of light to manufacture the nutritive components necessary for the life of their host. This is why tropical corals live near the surface, where light is plentiful.
This mutually beneficial association is a true symbiosis.
Locals hypothesize that the legacy of Italian blood and culture in Cologne, colonized by the Romans more than 1500 years ago, makes the people more jovial and lighthearted. Cologne is the largest city on the Rhine.
Kolsch is not only the dialect spoken here but, also the name of their own top-fermented beer. There are more than 4,000 pubs, restaurant's and brewery taverns in Cologne.
Unlike many of the world's large cities, Cologne, with a population of over a million, gets better every day, there are more things to do and see, more new and innovative buildings... more
Travel is an opportunity to learn, whether geography, languages, history or other subjects.
Cologne is situated on the beautiful Rhine River.