User:Cerpha1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the band, see Cay (band). For the volcano, see Cay (volcano).
"Cayes" redirects here. For the city in Haiti, see Les Cayes.
A cay (also spelled caye or key and /ˈkiː/ or, due to its spelling, /ˈkeɪ/) is a small, low-elevation, sandy island formed on the surface of coral reefs. Cays occur in tropical environments throughout the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans (including in the Caribbean and on the Great Barrier Reef and Belize Barrier Reef), where they provide habitable and agricultural land for hundreds of thousands of people. Their surrounding reef ecosystems also provide food and building materials for island inhabitants.