Coral
Cnidaria – Anthozoa
Corals are colonies of tiny tubular animals called polyps and are generally classified as either hard or soft corals. The hard coral polyp secretes a cup-shaped limestone skeletal case that supports and protects the soft body of the coral polyp. When the polyp dies, the hard skeleton remains, and sometimes washes ashore. Coral polyps feed on small zooplankton, such as copepods and tiny marine larvae.
Did you know?
Reef building coral polyps are in a symbiotic (mutually beneficial) partnership with zooxanthellae – tiny, single-celled algae contained in the cells of the polyps. The zooxanthellae provide nutrients for the coral polyps and in return the coral protects the algae.
In This Section
- Chordates – Animals with backbones
- Invertebrates – Animals without backbones
- Abalone
- Acorn barnacle
- Baler shell
- Blue button sea jelly
- Bluebottle
- Bryozoan
- Bubbler crabs and sand balls
- Chiton
- Cone shell
- Coral
- Cowry shell
- Crab
- Cuttlebone
- Goose barnacle
- Hermit crabs
- Horned ghost crab (Manburr)
- Limpet
- Mud crab
- Mussel
- Periwinkle
- Pipi
- Ram’s horn shell
- Razor clam
- Sand dollars
- Scallop
- Sea hare
- Sea hares
- Sea jelly
- Sea star
- Sea urchin
- Silver-lip pearl oyster
- Sponge
- Tube worm
- Turban snail
- Violet snail
- Marine Pests
- Seagrasses and Algae
- Unusual Finds