Corals

Today we've learned about all the different kinds of corals there are under the sea. The children were very interested in knowing all the facts of these pretty plant looking like creatures of the sea.

Facts about Corals;

• Corals are the exoskeleton of sea animals called polyps. When coral polyps die they leave behind a hard, stony structure that over time build up to form a coral reef.
• Coral polyps, like jellyfish and anemones, use their arm-like tentacles to catch food and feed their small mouth located in the center.
• Corals come in many shapes. They can be shaped like domes, organ pipes and trees.
• Corals are transparent and don't have any color at all. It is the alga, called zooxanthellae, that gives coral its color.
• Coral polyps need zooxanthellae to survive. Zooxanthellae, like all plants, takes in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen during the process known as photosynthesis. For polyps, the oxygen is sugar.
• When coral is stressed it expels the zooxanthellae giving up its color and an important source of food. This phenomenon is called chloral bleaching.
• Coral polyps, one of the smallest animals in the world, make the only natural formation visible from outer space.

Here they each painted a different kind of coral to add to our ocean outside of our classroom :)