Classification Coral Nutrition phylum Cnidaria WIS

Discover how coral polyps feed--it will surprise you! Looking at the structure of a corral polyp, you see tentacles surrounding the coral's only orifice, the mouth. The outer layer--epidermis--has stinging cells to capture prey. But the largest amount of food that a polyp uses comes from a symbiotic algae: zooxanthellae. A polyp can get some nutrients directly from seawater and some smaller animals can get stuck to mucus on the tentacles and moved to the mouth opening. Learn more about the nematocysts/stinging cells and the mutualistic algae