Fire Corals

Fire Corals, are classified as a Hydrozan in the Cnidarian phylum. They use their long hairs that protrude from their skeleton to trap their prey and gets their food from Zooxanthealle. Then they produce clusters of stingning cells that inflict the stings on human skin. Their polyps reproduce asexually, and are near microscopic size and mostly are imbedded in the skeleton and are connected by minute canals.  These corals contain gastropores and dactylopores, that are visible on their smooth surface. Fire corals can reproduce asexually through fragmentation. However their brittle skins are easily to be broken during storms or by divers. This relates to learning about Hydrozans in the Part 1 Invertebrates Vodcast which is part of the Phylum Cnidaria that is hte odest group containing specialized Tissues.http://www.arkive.org/fire-corals/millepora-spp/.