Among the myriad creatures that populate our ocean, some stand out as having an outsized impact on the marine ...

Crucial to coral health are colorful algae called zooxanthellae. These algae live in coral polyps, providing coral with its bright color. The zooxanthellae photosynthesize and pass the products to ...

These algae manufacture sugars and share them with their coral hosts. "Each coral colony has thousands of polyps, and their brown color is from the algae. Whenever you see coral bleaching ...

The connection between polyps allows for the sharing ... for sessile organisms to attach, including algae, sponges, and non-reef building corals (e.g., fire corals, soft corals, gorgonians).

When Palacio and her team examined coral reefs after the 2015–2016 heat wave, they found that particular corals called ...

Gradually, over thousands of years, these layers form a coral reef. Polyps feed on other organisms, like plankton and algae. The algae is what gives coral its beautiful colours. But algae is ...

Corals rely on algae for nutrition, so once the algae has gone, this weakens the coral polyp and if the algae doesn’t return to the polyp, the coral will eventually die. Recovery is possible in some ...

The mouth of a coral polyp (center): Symbiotic algae are labeled in red, pathogenic bacteria that enter through this region are labeled in blue. Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not ...

Each polyp has a mouth surrounded by tentacles ... Together with coralline algae and other groups that produce limestone skeletons, corals gradually build up the complex three-dimensional structure of ...

This coral species, known as acropora hemprichii, grows in the shallow reefs of the Maldives in tapered branches which ...