What is Coral?

This is an image of some coral. Coral can come in many different colors, shapes, and sizes, and doesnt always look like the coral in the image above. Before reading on, what do you notice about this coral at first glance? I bet you didnt know that corals are tiny animals, called polyps, that are related to and look like sea anemones. Each coral secretes a stony cup of limestone around itself as a skeleton. The polyps divide as they grow and form coral colonies. As the coral colonies build up on top of each other, they gradually form a coral reef. That is how the Great Barrier Reef was formed, it only has to start with one. What is different about corals skeleton, and our skeleton? and why do you think that protects them from their surroundings?