• Soft Coral—Flower Animals of the Sea
    Awake!—1989 | March 22

    • But have you ever thought of coral as a soft, delicate flower? There are several varieties of soft coral that, because of their varied shapes and colors, have been called flower animals. Soft corals also begin life as swimming larvae but seldom secrete massive calcium carbonate skeletons. These fleshy and treelike corals can therefore grow more rapidly than the stony corals and are far less permanent.

      One such soft coral has a big, rubbery, treelike body and is called a flower animal because it resembles a beautiful flower, even though coral is animal rather than plant life. The tree coral is supported only by small needlelike calcite spicules (which resemble sliced almonds) and hydraulic pressure within the fleshy tissue of its body. These corals take in seawater to give form to their flesh, similar to the way heated air fills hot-air balloons, but the water pressure is not great, nor is the water hot. The pressure is enough, however, combined with the effect of the surrounding water, that the body and its branches are supported. Because of its structure, this variety of coral rarely grows to a height of more than three feet [1 m] and prefers lagoons and calm ocean locations.

      When inflated to their treelike form, these tree corals are very beautiful, reminding the observer of a lovely multicolored flower garden filled with delicate blooms and blossoms. Visually, their translucent or transparent bodies delight the eye as they capture the ambient light and the coloration of the water, while supporting branches having white, yellow, gold, pink, red, or purple polyps.

      Another type of soft coral is the daisy coral. Daisy coral is so named because of its great resemblance to its namesake, the daisy. There are several varieties of daisy coral, and they are distinguished by the number of “petals” (tentacles) surrounding the mouth of the polyp.

      These delicate white or tan-and-white corals are not so colorful as the tree corals, but their size, long stems, and shape are delightful to observe on the reef. A colony may grow to be 15 to 20 feet [4 to 6 m] across and can give the diver a feeling of observing a field of daisies covering rolling foothills. Currents move the polyps and give the illusion of a breeze moving the daisies, causing them to sway gently in rhythm to the movement of water.