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Coral polyps live in tube-like skeletons, fixed to the sea floor. Some corals are single tubes or corallites
while others consist of multiple tubes forming a colony or corallum. The colony acts as one individual animal
so that, for example, if one part is attacked, the other polyps withdraw into their tubes. Living coral may
be brightly coloured due to the thin skin which covers the skeleton of living coral.
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Today, corals are often associated with reefs - barrier reefs, fringing reefs and atolls - in tropical seas,
but solitary corals can live in colder, deeper waters.
Palaeozoic corals are different from those found in the Mesozoic, Tertiary and modern times. The whole group
almost became extinct at the end of the Permian, part of the mass extinction which marks the boundary between the Palaeozoic and the Mesozoic, but held on long enough for the modern scleractinian forms to evolve.
Geopix Study Guide "Corals"
- gives an illustrated description of corals;
- describes the main morphological features;
- explains how the mode of life can be determined;
- describes the differences between the coral groups.
The Study Guide contains the following pages:
