Tube sponges and corals. These are purple tube sponges (Aplysina lacunosa). Sponges are primitive animals which filter water through their bodies, ext

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Tube sponges and corals. These are purple tube sponges (Aplysina lacunosa). Sponges are primitive animals which filter water through their bodies, extracting plankton for nutrition. Corals are small colonial invertebrate animals, the individual polyps of which often join together (as here) to make the larger structures that form coral reefs. Photographed in the Indian Ocean, off Reunion Island.

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Photo credit: © ALAIN BARRERE/LOOK AT SCIENCES/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: animal, animals, anthozoa, anthozoan, anthozoans, aplysina, aquatic, beds, biological, biology, coral, corals, fauna, indian, invertebrate, invertebrates, island, lacunosa, marine, nature, ocean, polyp, polyps, purple, reef, reunion, sea, sponge, sponges, spongy, tube, underwater, water, zoological, zoology