WHAT IS CORAL?

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever seen coral before? It's a very beautiful place and full of colors. Coral is a home to a lot of creatures. Read on and discover a lot of fun and awesome facts about coral.

CORAL POLYPS

Do you know what coral polyps are? Coral polyps are tiny little animals. Coral polyps are sort of like a jellyfish. Coral polyps can live alone or in a large colony that makes a coral reef. All the polyps in a colony are clones of each other. They reproduce (make more copies of themselves) during the night of a full moon. Corals are formed by little small animals, the sehidria. They are marine (ocean) animals, and live either on continental shelves or on and around islands in the ocean.

THE GREAT BARRIER REEF

240 million years ago (before the dinosaurs were alive) was when the first coral reef was formed on Earth. Coral is formed by a living creature, and a lot of corals existing on Earth today are probably between 5,000 and 10,000 years old.

The largest and most famous coral reef system in the world is the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is found in the Coral Sea, just off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The Barrier Reef is sooo big that astronauts can see it from space. The barrier reef is 134,634 feet long.

CORAL HAS SHELLS AND SKELETONS

Coral creates something called calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate forms a shell that is hard (like a skeleton). When every polyp dies, the polyp leaves its skeleton structure behind. That way the next generation of polyps grow, which is making the reef keep enlarging.

CORAL PIGMENT

Coral pigment acts like sunscreen because coral pigment protects the algae. Harmful UV (ultraviolet) rays from the sun are filtered out by the pigment's protein. When they are exposed to very bright light they make more pigments.

It's similar to a person who has fair (light) skin that responds to the sun. With more pigments it will be a darker color and better protected from the harmful UV rays.

Healthy coral is very colorful. Healthy coral comes in colors like shades of olive green, tan, brown, and yellow. Dead or dying coral are white in color. This is known as bleaching.

This picture looks nothing like coral, but these are coral polyps. They often live in a large colony. Coral polyps are kind of like a jellyfish.

Coral can go on for miles and miles. The Great Barrier Reef stretches more than 1,400 miles.

This picture shows coral. A healthy coral reef is colorful, but coral that is not alive looks white like a skeleton.

A coral reef is a home to a lot of fish and other sea creatures.

Healthy coral reefs are often full of many pretty colors.

Coral can grow on rocks.

When coral doesn't have color that means it's not healthy.

Coral grows close to the suface of the water.

This map shows the eastern coast of Australia, where the Great Barrier Reef is located.

Visit these sources to find more information:

Websites about Coral:

Books about Coral:

Ocean LIfe by Camilla De La Bedoyre

Hello, Fish! Visting The Coral Reef by Sylvia A. Earle

FUN & BONUS FACTS:

One of the awesome things about coral is its beautiful color. But not all corals are pretty. Some coral is a dull green or a brownish color. Those colors don't mean that coral is unhealthy. But when coral turns white that is a bad sign that the coral is dead or dying.
Many animals make their home in a barrier reef. For example, dolphins, whales, and dugongs can be seen. (A dugong is a marine mammal.)
Did you know that each coral animal is like a bag? A bag has an opening at the top. Well, a coral animal has an opening at the top, also. The opening at the top of a coral animal is the mouth!
YOU probably know that trees have growth rings. Well, did you know that coral also has growth rings just like a tree?
Coral grows very slowly. It can take up to 10,000 years for a coral reef to form from a group of larvae depending on their size. Barrier reefs and atolls can take from 100,000 to 30,000,000 years to form.

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