![]() ![]() The arm-like tentacles gather food and sting creatures that threaten the coral. The polyps use ions in seawater to make limestone exoskeletons-skeletons outside the body-for themselves.Ī coral polyp is shaped like a cylinder, with a mouth at one end, surrounded by tentacles. The tiny, individual organisms that make up large coral colonies are called coral polyps. ![]() They are also dependent on one another for survival. Corals are known as colonial organisms, because many individual creatures live and grow while connected to each other. ![]() Though coral may look like a colorful plant growing from roots in the seafloor, it is actually an animal. There are about six thousand species of coral around the world, with some species growing in warm shallow waters near coastlines and others thriving on the dark, cold seafloor of the open ocean. ![]()
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