Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c43.s3.t12.2

v2.c43.s3.t12.2

Red or precious coral constitutes the substance of the calcareous axial skeleton of the coral polyp, Corallium rubrum, a lowly organised animal belonging to the class Anthozoa. Branching colonies growing on the sea-floor (30 to 300 meters below the sea-level) are supported by axial rods of red calcareous material, the so-called coral, invested by a layer of soft, living material known to zoologists as the coenosarc. The cells of the coenosarc have the power of separating out calcium carbonate from the sea water and adding on to the axial skeleton of coral.