Corals are invertebrate animals that live in colonies called polyps. They are related to jellyfish and anemones. There are two main types of coral reefs: fringing reefs near shore and barrier reefs that form when land sinks or sea levels rise. Coral polyps build reef structures over thousands of years. Coral reefs provide habitat for many species of fish but are threatened by pollution, sedimentation from runoff, and destructive fishing practices like dynamite fishing.

1. By: Eva Oni-Enakhifo

2. ☻ Corals are Invertebrates
☻ They are in the same family as jelly fish, sea
anemones, and hydra
☻ They are made of carnivorous animals called
polyps
☻ All kinds of fish live in corals

3. ☻ There are two kinds:
1. A fringing reef (a reef where coral polyps
settle and grow close to the shore
2. A barrier reef (if the land sinks or the sea rises,
a polyp it makes a barrier reef
☻ Smooth coral grows in rougher waters
☻ Hard coral grows in calmer waters

4. ☻ Corals are classified as Phylum Cnidarians
☻ Corals fall into the vertebrate family
☻ Although corals do live in the ocean they are
not in the same family as fish

5. ☻ Corals evolved into reef building forms over
the last 20-25 million years
☻ Coral beads and artifacts were discovered in
Egyptian graves dating back as far as 4000 B.C.
☻ They are also found in the graves from Iron
Age and Neolithic sepulchers from 10,000 B.C.

6.  The main kind of pollution killing corals is
chemical pollution when harmful gases get into
the air it gets in the ocean
 Littering kills them too so when you litter some
trash companies dump it into the ocean
 Mud from runoff can smother the coral and
they can’t breathe

7.  Sharks are the most well known predators of
the ocean, sea, and the coral reef
 Sharks that are dangerous to reefs:
The sand tiger shark
White tip reef shark
Grey tip reef shark
Black tip shark
Silver tip shark

8. ☻ Clown Fish
☻ Giant Clam
☻ Giant Cone Snail
☻ All kinds of Octopi

9. ☻ Corals are considered animals
☻ Coral require sunlight and that’s why they like
(warm) and shallow water
☻ The Great Barrier Reef off the coast of
Queensland, Australia is so big (apx. 2,000 kilo)
that it can be seen from space
☻ This is the brain coral that grows1-3 inches a
year

10. ☻ The mouth of a coral is surrounded by stinging
tentacles
☻ This is dynamite fishing which kills coral 

11. ☻ Barnes, R.D. 1987. Invertebrate Zoology TX:
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers.
☻ Lilli, C.M. and T.R. Parsons. 1995. Biological
Oceanography: An Introduction. Oxford, UK:
Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd.
☻ Veron, JEN. 2000. Corals of the World. Vol 3.
Australia: Australian Institute of Marine
Sciences and CRR Qld Pty Ltd.