Coral
A coral outcrop on the Great Barrier Reef , Australia Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria . They typically live in compact colonies of many identical individual polyps . Corals species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton. A coral "group" is a colony of myriad genetically identical polyps. Each polyp is a sac-like animal typically only a few millimeters in diameter and a few centimeters in length. A set of tentacles surround a central mouth opening. An exoskeleton is excreted near the base. Over many generations, the colony thus creates a large skeleton characteristic of the species. Individual heads grow by asexual reproduction of polyps. Corals also breed sexually by spawning : polyps of the same sp...

Σχόλια
Δημοσίευση σχολίου