How to recognise them

Small horns up to 3 cm long (solo corals); circles with radial lines (like the spokes on a wheel); polka dots (colonies). 

Fossil Info

Corals are marine animals that have lots of tentacles like anemones but live at the top of a hard skeleton. They use their tentacles to gather food particles from the surrounding water. There are many different types of fossil corals. Some lived alone (these are called solitary corals) but others lived in large groups and shared a common skeleton (these are called colonial corals). Corals still live in the oceans today, mostly in shallow tropical seas. 

Fun Fact

Corals have been discovered living in cold deep waters in deep-sea canyons hundreds of kilometers off the west coast of Ireland.

Find out more about Irish Corals on the National Museums NI website