Coral makes its home in warm shallow water where sunlight can easily reach it, thus it is found in tropical oceans all over the world. The largest coral reef is the Great Barrier Reef found over 1200 miles off the coast of Australia . This reef is so big that it can be seen from space. Coral reefs are built very slowly by tiny animals called polyps. These coral animals compare to a pencil eraser in size.
Coral polyps have a soft body, stomach, and mouth surrounded by tentacles .
They use these tentacles to capture their prey, plankton. Growing inside the coral are tiny plants called zooxanthellae. These plants use the sun to make food. This food is passed on to the coral, and it helps the coral to grow. Polyps live close together in colonies.