Geography of Coral Reefs

According to Samurovic,

"Coral reefs are ridges or hummocks formed in the warm, shallow parts of the ocean. They are created by tiny organisms called coral polyps (phylum: Cnidaria, class: Anthozoa, if you’re interested in taxonomy) and the large exoskeletons they build over time.

These skeletons can be external or internal and have a leathery, horn-like, or stonelike texture - and the stonelike are probably the most famous ones.We can think of coral hard structures as "buildings" in which polyps live.

Interestingly, individual polyps on their own are mostly colorless, but still, the entire reef structure is usually warmly colorful, which is a consequence of a relationship between the polyps and their endosymbiotic microscopic algae - the zooxanthellae.

The distribution of corals and their structures largely depends on the marine environmental conditions - specifically, the average and minimum water temperature and sun exposure."