Many coral polyps (left) collectively grow into a coral structure by laying down calcium carbonate cups (right). How they grow together is a kind of biological packing problem. Shutterstock. The ...

Coral polyps are truly fascinating organisms. They belong to the same family as jellyfish and sea anemones, and though tiny—often no bigger than a grain of rice—they live in vast colonies.

Single-polyp metabolomics reveals biochemical structuring of the coral holobiont at multiple scales. Communications Biology , 2023; 6 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05342-8 Cite This Page : ...

This coral polyp lives as a loner and can even — very slowly — walk. Without legs. New video reveals details of its locomotion. B.M. Lewis et al/PLOS One 2025 () ...

Coral is comprised of tiny individual creatures called polyps, which form a connected hardened shell when living en masse in a colony. The average polyp grows to about a quarter of an inch. 4 ...

Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) can kill a colony coral polyps in only a few weeks once infected. By Laura Baisas. Published Apr 6, 2023 10:00 AM EDT.

Then the coral polyps kick out the offending algae, and only the clear polyps and white limestone structures they’ve built remain, producing the “bleaching” effect.

The standalone structure, formed from a "complex network" of tiny coral polyps, has likely been growing for 300 years or more, the researchers said.