### color | coral:

Brain coral
* are an important reef building species throughout the tropics
  - stony corals
* extend their tentacles at night to catch food.
* get their name from the folds and turns in the coral skeleton.
* grow more slowly, but their solid skeletons stand strong in storms.
* hard or stony coral.

Dead coral
* decay faster into sand than live corals.
* is bleached white, stressed to death by environmental factors

Finger coral
* is the most common species along with lobe coral.
* snap easily and litter individual rest sites.

Fire coral
* are also abundant in the Bahamas
  - pantropical meaning they are found in the warmer waters and often shallower depths
* is very common in the Red Sea.
* look like hard corals, but upon closer observation, they often have a furry coat layer.

Gorgonian
* are a diverse group, with most species occuring in tropical and sub-tropical waters
  - very common animals on our reefs, gently waving in the currents
* have a flexible skeletal structure which sways with the water currents.

### color | coral | gorgonian coral:

Sea fan
* appear in shades of red, yellow, or orange.
* are gorgonians
  - pale lavender or green fan-shaped corals
* gorgonian coral
* have structures known as sclerites.

### color | coral:

Hard coral
* Many hard corals are extraordinarily light and seem to imitate plant forms.
* Most hard corals can reproduce either sexually or asexually.
* Some hard corals have ability.
* are hermatypes or reef-building corals and often require zooxanthellae for survival.
* are the basis of the tropical coral reef
  - most significant group of corals in terms of reef building
* build by secreting calcium carbonate skeletons.
* form coral reefs, which serve as a home for many sea creatures
  - the massive structures of the reef
* have an internal, rock-like, chalky skeleton that remains when they die.
* is just the opposite.

Healthy coral
* are more likely to recover from bleaching, scientists say.
* is very colorful and rich with marine life.

Live coral
* Some live corals produce excess slime when shipped.
* has many very beautiful colours.
* require strong lighting, with proper spectrum and immaculately clean systems.

Modern coral
* deposit a single, very thin layer of lime once a day.
* live only in seawater, so a marine origin can be inferred for the structure.
* range from the Triassic to the present.

Mushroom coral
* are soft corals and have no exoskeleton but grow on rock.
* resemble the attached or unattached tops of mushrooms

### color | coral:

Soft coral
* Most soft corals rely on the ocean current to supply necessary nutrients.
* are an important component of coral reefs
  - colonial animals and some do have calcium carbonate skeletons of a sort
  - important competitors for space on reefs
  - in abundance here, including large gorgonian sea fans, and sea anemones
  - similar to their hard coral cousins, but lack a hard limestone skeleton
* come in shapes that look like whips, plumes, or fans and have only eight tentacles.
* comes in dramatic, often electric hues of orange, red, pink, and white-fringed by purple.
* exert no direct effect on coral reef fish assemblages
  - reef fishes
* has flexible skeletons that can sway in strong currents.
* have a skeleton of horney tubes, spikes and rods.
* look like trees or bushes.
* populate the deeper waters, especially where there is current.
* reproduce by both sexual and asexual means.
* require extremely good water quality
  - medium to slightly high water flow

Staghorn coral
* form the forests of the reef.
* grow rapidly, but are easily damaged in storms.

Stony coral
* are animals which help build our coral reefs
  - found in warm, shallow waters of the world
  - the major reef architects
* employ several methods of asexual reproduction.
* is the most common sort but there is another type of coral soft coral.
* produce limy cases that build the reef.