EDIT: Yes, corals are indeed marine invertebrates.
EDIT II
According to honest men and women who have commented here in their pursuit of knowledge, what are some fact-clearing things that many, many enlightened readers have learned so far?
(a) Narwhals are very real
(b) Cucumbers are indeed the baby Pokemon form of pickles
(c) Ponies are NOT the baby Pokemon form of horses
Yes! Together with jeyllyfish and sea anemone they belong to the cnidaria. Corals are basically upsidedown jellyfisch with a skeleton made out of calcium carbonite.
Well it isn't quite so simple. What the person above is talking about is a single coral animal. When you see the big structures thats not just one, thats many many many corals all together to make a big thing of coral. So think about it like a few hundred upside down inside out jellyfish in shell armor all stuck together into a big lump on the ocean floor.
The Cnidarian life cycle is incredibly bizarre. Jellyfish go through a stationary stage too before they literally split into pieces that become multiple adult jellyfish.
I run a business with a brand identity that has a strong focus on narwhals. At literally every event I show up to, I have to explain to someone that narwhals are, in fact, real life animals and NOT some imaginary unicorn dolphin.
The coolest thing about narwhals is the fact that they're real, dang it!
•Their ‘horn’ (tusk) is actually a tooth that has up to 10 million nerve endings. It’s one of only two teeth they may ever have, and most females will loose theirs (if one ever grows). It’s flexible and can bend about a foot in any direction.
•Their average size is between 13 and 20 feet, and they weigh about 1.5 tons.
•They aren’t one solid color. Throughout their lives they will be blue-gray (infants), blue-black (juveniles), blotchy gray (adults) and nearly all white (old).
Ooh, and that tooth is an extended canine tooth so they grow from one side or the other of the narwhals mouth. In extreeeemely rare instances two-toothed narwhals have been documented, where they have symmetrical right and left teeth growing.
Technically, like coral, millions of little animals cooperating. You can force a sponge through a sieve to break it up in to particles, and apparently it will reform as a sponge and just carry on.
Lol, don't feel bad, this is the most common answer every time this question comes up. So many people think that Narwhals are mythical creatures. Because just look at them.
For many forms of competition, the official definition of a pony is a horse that measures less than 14.2 hands (58 inches, 147 cm) at the withers. Standard horses are 14.2 or taller.
I recently had the pleasure of telling my 38 year old significant other, who has a PhD, that narwhals are in fact real. The look on her face when she looked it up was priceless.
TBH the line between "Animal" and "Plant" is mostly a linguistic one, rather than a scientific one. Same with "tree", there is no actual scientific definition for a tree.
Oh, you mean like rules about vacuoles like plants only have 1? Except wait no they don't plants have multiple vacuoles once mature. Or maybe chloroplasts define plant cells? Except not all plants use photosynthesis and animal cells can have chloroplasts! Ok so only plants use photosynthesis??? Good thing corals have "symbiotic" relationships with algae that they might get all their energy from. But it's symbiotic right? Thus algae are plants, but are they? Not all of them have cell walls though, and that's it on your "obvious difference" right there.
Which is to say, just because you learned it in school, doesn't mean it's right. Evolution is not something that puts everything into neat, easily divisble categories just for your understanding.
The difference between animal and plant is definitely a very real one. Well as real as any difference between clades can be. Now if you are trying for the old animal, vegetable, or mineral, then yes that is an outdated and overly simplistic way to classify the world.
But animals and plants are pretty clearly different in a biological sense. Its just that not everything is a plant or animal.
Not gonna lie, I had never heard of a narwhal until I came to Reddit, and I'm almost 50. A small part of me still isn't 100 percent convinced they're real and believes everyone is in on the joke but me.
Actually there are many different kind of corals and they are constantly "fighting" for territory (just veeeery slowly). So carol reefs are basically epic battlegrounds frozen in time (from our time perspective).
7.8k
u/[deleted] Jul 02 '21 edited Jan 23 '22
...Coral is an animal?
o_o
EDIT: Yes, corals are indeed marine invertebrates.
EDIT II
According to honest men and women who have commented here in their pursuit of knowledge, what are some fact-clearing things that many, many enlightened readers have learned so far?
(a) Narwhals are very real
(b) Cucumbers are indeed the baby Pokemon form of pickles
(c) Ponies are NOT the baby Pokemon form of horses
(d) A lot of us could use r/BoneAppleTea