|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Comments
|
| Encyclopedia of Life |
 |
Visit this species on the Encyclopedia of Life to find out more!
|
 |
Lifestyle
Don't call me a plant. People always do that and it bugs me. I'm a very small animal. Actually, each mass of coral that you see is really hundreds of tiny animals, called polyps (PAUL-lip) living together. Hundreds of coral polyps living together are called a colony.
Like jellyfish, we have a sac-like body with a mouth and tentacles on top and are in a group of animals called cnidarians (snid-DARE-eeyans).
Unlike jellyfish, we are reef builders! We make our own skeletons and wear them like our armor adding to it every year, and growing bigger. We only live in the top most layer of our skeleton and the old skeleton underneath is what makes the reef.
|
 |
Fun Facts
We are very common in reefs and there are 45 different species of us around the world. We come in many different shapes; sometimes we look like a solid round dome, and other times we can look like a branching tree. Our branches can be big and flat, or very thin. Are you humans as varied looking as us coral?
|
 |
Menu
We are animals, so we need to eat food. We only feed at night! We use our tentacles to catch food floating in the water and then bring it to our mouths to eat. We catch zooplankton, tiny animals that live in the sea. So, although during the day you won't see our polyps, if you come to the reef at night, you can see us eat. It makes our colony look fuzzy.
We live in tropical areas, and there aren't many nutrients in tropical waters. Tropical waters are kind of like deserts. That means there isn't enough of Zooplankton for us to eat in the tropical waters where we live. But we grow really big. How is this possible you ask? We have a trick! We have plants that live inside our bodies! We have special algae called Zooxanthellae that live in our cells. Zooxanthellae use photosynthesis to make food. We take this food and use it to grow. In return we give the Zooxanthellae a safe place to live. This symbiotic, or close, relationship helps both of us, so it's mutualistic.
|
 |
Threats
We are in a lot of trouble and reefs are in great danger. 20% of the reefs in the world have been destroyed. Even more are under threat now. This is because of humans! They dump waste and poisons in the oceans that make us sick. Because of climate change, the oceans are also getting warmer, and that is also making us sick. To matters worse, humans sometimes dump sand on us to make beaches or destroy us to build things on land. This is bad news indeed. We make the reef and if you kill us, you kill all the creatures that live on the reef.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
