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A coral may look like a rock or a plant, but it is an animal. It cannot make its own food the way plants do.

Each coral animal is called a polyp. Most polyps are tiny, no thicker than a small coin. They catch food with little arms called tentacles.

Each polyp builds a hard skeleton of stone around itself. Millions of polyps, over a very long time, build a whole reef.

Tiny plant-like helpers called algae live inside the coral. They use sunlight to make food and share it with the coral. They also give the coral its colours.

Experiment: What does vinegar do to a shell?

1. Label one cup 'water' and one cup 'vinegar'.
2. Pour water into the first cup and vinegar into the second cup.
3. Guess: will anything happen to the shells?
4. Put one shell in each cup. Look closely at the shell in the vinegar. Do you see tiny bubbles?
5. Leave the cups and look again the next day. Feel the shells (with clean hands). Are they the same?

Cup	What happened?
Water	My guess
Vinegar	My guess

Questions

1. Draw a coral reef with corals, fish and a lobster.

   🍎

2. Is a coral an animal?

   yes / no

3. What colour does a coral turn when the water is too warm?

Sources for every fact on this sheet: echoesof.science/school/coral-reefs/sources/

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