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Introduction
Introduction
- Coral, also called polyps
- Related to sea anemones and jellyfish; soft-bodied invertebrate
- Limestone skeleton(calicle): structure of reef
- Begin by attaching to rock on sea floor, the cells divide, creating exact copies
- When it divides enough it forms colony
- Colonies come together to form reefs
- Some 50 million years old
- Zooxanthellae algae: create the hues
- Corals live in tropical water around the world
- Generally prefer to be closer to surface to have access to sun's rays
- Only cover 1% of world, but have 25% of marine organisms
National Geographic http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/coral/
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