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How do coral reefs form?
A coral is a small animal that lives all its life in one place. It thrives in warm, shallow seawater. The coral builds a shell, which it cements onto the dead shells of other corals, and so a great mass of rocky shell material is built up. If the sea bed sinks, the corals continue to grow upward, forming a reef. Many sinking islands in the Pacific Ocean have disappeared, leaving only a coral reef behind.
Australia's Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef in the World.
Australia's Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef in the World.
 
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