A coral reef is an underwater rock formation built by colonies of reef-building corals. The structure forms as coral polyps deposit calcium carbonate, and most reefs are built from stony corals whose polyps cluster together in large colonies. Over time these calcium carbonate skeletons accumulate into a rigid, wave-resistant formation that also supports a rich underwater ecosystem.
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Source Coral reef (Wikipedia)
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Wikidata P31 formation-type mapped to discipline Oceanography via reviewed judgment map (earth atlas); source citation is this entity's own cited Wikidata item.
Source Wikidata: Coral Reef
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Source Wikidata: Coral Reef
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Wikidata: Coral Reef
Wikidata Q26791162, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source Coral reef (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Ordovician, Lead, age OrdovicianQuote, Associated With: Ordovician, Lead, age Ordovician
Coral reefs first appeared 485 million years ago, at the dawn of the Early Ordovician, displacing the microbial and sponge reefs of the Cambrian.
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