In the introduction page, all the corals metioned are hard corals as those are the ones that will build reefs. However, generally, there are two kinds of corals, hard and soft.

Hard coral: Lobe Coral at North Line Islands.

Hard coral.

Hard corals, as the name suggests, are hard. As mentioned in the introduction, they have exoskeletons made of calcium carbonate which is hard and is continuously produced by coral polyps. They also have the algae (zooxanthellae) living in them. This website is mainly concerned with hard corals, as they are reef-building corals. Soft corals do not build reefs. However, that is not to say soft corals aren’t important. They are! Soft corals are also found on coral reefs along with the hard corals.

So, how different are soft corals from hard corals?

Soft coral.

Soft coral: Pulsing Xenia Coral

Soft corals often resemble plants. They are the exact opposite of hard corals: soft, jelly-like and no hard exoskeletons. Their soft bodies comprise of a great number of polyps which are connected by fleshy tissue. To call them ‘soft’, may be a little misleading however, for these corals possess tiny, needle-like spicule structures in their tissue. Also there are some exceptional soft corals that actually do produce hard skeletons; however since they have 8 tentacles, we call them soft corals as all soft corals have those 8 limbs. Some soft corals do contain zooxanthellae (the special algae) and they will appear to be brown in colour, while in those without the algae, the bright colours of the needle-like spicules will be exposed.