corals
n. plural-onlyn. small sea animals that live in large groups and have hard skeletons. When they die, their skeletons stay behind and build up to form large reefs in the ocean.
n. marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa that typically live in compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. The term often refers to the hard calcium carbonate structures they secrete, which form the physical basis of reefs.
The colorful corals are home to many different fish.
Rising ocean temperatures are causing many corals to lose their color and die in a process called bleaching.
The structural complexity of branching corals provides essential nursery habitats for juvenile fish, supporting biodiversity across the entire reef ecosystem.
Often used in the plural to refer to the collective organisms or the various species within a reef system.