Among the myriad creatures that populate our ocean, some stand out as having an outsized impact on the marine environment—shaping and maintaining habitats that themselves sustain countless other forms ...

Even when we think we know everything, or that we think we have a grasp on what species occur in our environment, we don’t,” said Declan Morrissey, a zoologist at the Smithsonian.

Millions of polyp generations later, the reef stands not as a singular thing but as a jumble whose shapes, sizes, and life-forms are determined by where in the ocean they lie—how close to shore, ...

A total of 866 new marine species have been discovered in just 16 months by the Nippon Foundation–Nekton Ocean Census as they ...

Time-lapse video shows how a mushroom coral polyp pulses and inflates, flinging its soft body into micro-hops to slowly move itself to a new location.

The ocean was a home, but in school ... It’s also the animal that builds that structure: an anemone-like polyp less than a centimeter long. By building calcium carbonate cups one on top of another and ...

This relationship between the zooxanthellae and the coral polyps is an excellent example of a mutually beneficial relationship, also known as symbiosis. Although they occupy less than 0.1% of the ...

Fish and corals in reefs across the Pacific Ocean may harbor nearly 3 million ... multiple types of bacteria may help coral polyps in the same way, such as making sure the coral-building creatures ...