the hard corals are in the shallow waters which means that there are more nutrients making it healthier and stronger against predators
soft corals live deeper water than hard corals because soft corals do not create a hard outer skeleton as the hard corals do.
The difference is in the name; soft corals have a soft body, with no bony or hard parts. In contrast, hard corals have a hard endoskeleton made of calcium carbonate.
Corals do not have spines witch is counted as an invertebrate
The difference is in the name; soft corals are soft have body ; with no bony or hard Parts
Usually 72 - 76 degrees F, but most corals prefer different temps, when answering this question it depends on if it is soft corals or hard corals, but this is the average temp
they grow by building reefs
no corals do not catch plankton even though they are an animal Actually, both hard and soft corals do catch plankton. A coral polyp (the individual coral animal) has a mouth surrounded by stinging tentacles. Hard corals stretch out their tentacles at night, when the plankton are drifting in the water. (Soft corals may catch plankton both at night and in the daytime.) The corals use their tentacles to sting the plankton and stuff it into their mouths.
no! that is just not possible. corals are cnidarians. when the minute creatures called polyps die, they secrete a hard exoskeleton consisting of calciumcarbonate. they secrete it around them to form a hardened structure called corals. corals are basically dead and hardened polyps.
what they have in common is they are both hard, cold, and they are white. (sometimes corals are white.) THATS NOT THEY HAVE IN COMMON. THE CORAL HELPS REPAIR THE BONES
Hard Corals and Soft Corals are not so easily defined because some corals which fall into the Soft Coral category are not actually soft. The basics are like this: Corals start out as free-floating larvae. The larva eventually attaches itself to a hard surface and becomes a polyp (individual coral). The polyp is a very tiny animal (a few millimeters in diameter) looking something like a sea anemone. Coral polyps live side by side in colonies. The Hard coral (such as Brain Coral) polyp secretes a limestone skeleton cup around itself and lives inside for protection. When a polyp dies, its skeleton or "house" remains intact. The name "hard coral" comes from skeleton around the polyp. Hard corals are the reef builders Soft coral (such as gorgonians or sea fans) are more tree-like and flexible. The skeleton of soft corals is located within their bodies, giving them form but allowing them to move with the waves. When you look at a coral formation you are looking at a colony of corals or lots of polyp "houses" (in the case of hard corals). Many identical coral individuals next to each other, forming a texture, pattern or structure. The pattern's characteristics are determined by the coral's species. Besides the skeleton location, most hard corals have 6 tentacles where most soft corals have 8.
The skeletons of dead corals are the foundation upon which layerer upon layer of successively younger animals attach themselves. The coral animal, or polyp, is colulmn shaped. Its lower end is attached to the hard floor made of the preceding coral skeletons of the reef, and its upper end extends into the water. There hard and soft corals, depending on the type of skeleton secreted. The hard-coral polyp deposits a cup-like solid skeleton of calcium carbonate around itself into which the polyp withdraws during the daytime. For this reason, deep sea divers see only the skeletons-and not the polyps-of hard corals.
Corals are hard because the individual animals, called polyps, each secrete calcium carbonate which hardens into a shell around each polyp.