Coral

Coral was the overarching protagonist of Disney/Pixar's 2003 animated film Finding Nemo. She was the mate of Marlin and mother of Nemo, along with 399 other unborn clownfish children. Unfortunately, within the first couple of minutes of the movie, Coral and her entire family were eaten by a barracuda, excluding Marlin and Nemo.
==Role in the film==
Coral is seen at the beginning of the film, where she and Marlin are admiring their new home and the neighborhood they live in. She believes there's too much space, but Marlin assures her that their kids deserve the best. He gets a little too excited, causing Coral to remind him that the kids are sleeping. They swim down below their sea anemone to a small grotto where over 400 clownfish eggs are being kept. Coral points out to Marlin that they need to give them names. Marlin decides to name half the kids "Marlin Junior" and the other half "Coral Junior". However, Coral says that she likes the name "Nemo", to which Marlin agrees with, but says that he'll only name one egg "Nemo" (as he wants most of them to be called "Marlin Junior"). Coral expresses her excitement over the fact that she and Marlin are about to become parents within a few days, though Marlin worries about the possibility of the children not liking him. Slightly annoyed, Coral reminds him of how many eggs there are, implying that at least one of them is bound to like him before swimming into the anemone. Marlin peeks in and affectionately smiles at Coral, to which the latter wonders why the former is looking at her the way he does at one point.
Marlin asks Coral if she remembers how they first met, to which she smiles back and claims that she tries not to (though she's likely kidding). Marlin then starts teasing Coral for fun, making her laugh so hard to the point where she ultimately freaks out and tries to get away from Marlin by quickly swimming out of the anemone. When Marlin swims out after her, he notices that everyone outside had gone into hiding for some reason, much to his confusion. He then turns to Coral, who's fearfully and silently staring into the distance at a hungry barracuda watching them viciously. Marlin orders Coral to get back into the house, but Coral, worried about the unprotected eggs, looks down at the grotto. Marlin tells her not to go to them as he believes they'll be fine, but Coral doesn't want to take the chance and rushes down to the grotto, thus encouraging the barracuda to go after her and, at the same time, prompting Marlin to rush down in an attempt to save her, but nearly gets eaten by the barracuda. Marlin tries to block the hungry fish and fends it off from eating him, but then gets slapped by its tail, sending him crashing into a rock and landing in the anemone, knocking him out and losing consciousness. With Marlin knocked out, the barracuda eats Coral and the eggs, and presumably, while eating them, one egg fell out of its mouth.
When Marlin later regains consciousness that night, he discovers that the grotto is empty, and Coral and all but one of the eggs are gone, as they had gotten eaten by the barracuda. Weeping over the loss of his mate and children, Marlin finds the only surviving egg and names it "Nemo" to honor his late mate's wish to name one of their children "Nemo".
As time goes on, Marlin's only remaining son Nemo grows into a young clownfish with a small right fin due to slight damage his egg received from the barracuda attack. This is shown that Coral and her children's deaths have greatly affected Marlin, which have caused him to become increasingly overprotective over Nemo to the point where he's not allowed to go out of the anemone very much.
==Trivia==
*In the original storyboard of the film, there was supposed to be a brief scene where the audience could see Coral and the eggs inside the Barracuda's mouth, but the scene was later deleted (possibly for being way too scary).
**Another opening would be Marlin telling Nemo the story about where they originally lived, and Marlin would've told Nemo that his mother was very pretty. Also, instead of being eaten by a barracuda, it was instead going to be falsely claimed by Marlin that the ocean's current took her.
*Coral is the first female Pixar character to die along with the 399 unnamed babies.
*Coral is indirectly mentioned in Finding Dory when the title character talks to Marlin and Nemo about missing her parents.
*Coral is named after the real-life marine invertebrate of the same name, which despite resembling a plant, is actually a creature that builds large skeletal structures called "coral reefs" that help with the ocean's ecosystems.
*Although Coral isn't mentioned much, it is known that her death has greatly affected Marlin, and is basically the reason for his overprotectiveness over Nemo.
==Gallery==
chrs coral.jpg
finding-nemo-disneyscreencaps.com-49.jpg
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finding-nemo-disneyscreencaps.com-135.jpg
finding-nemo-disneyscreencaps.com-186.jpg|"We're going to be parents!"
finding-nemo-disneyscreencaps.com-249.jpg|Coral staring at a hungry barracuda in the distance.
Finding-nemo-disneyscreencaps.com-257.jpg
finding-nemo-disneyscreencaps.com-268.jpg|Coral fears for the safety of the unprotected eggs.
finding-nemo-disneyscreencaps.com-279.jpg
finding-nemo-disneyscreencaps.com-281.jpg|Coral dashes for the eggs to her death.
ar:مرجانة (البحث عن نيمو)
es:Coral
fr:Corail
ja:コーラル
ru:Корал
Category:Fish
Category:Finding Nemo characters
Category:Pixar characters
Category:Deceased characters
Category:Females
Category:Lovers
Category:Australian characters
Category:Spouses
Category:Adults
Category:Parents
Category:Animated characters
Category:Anthropomorphic characters
Category:Heroines
Category:Marine Animals