While most fire corals are yellow or orange, they can also be found in shades of brown, green, and even blue, providing a vibrant display underwater.

[2] The gonophores in the family Milleporidae arise from the coenosarc (the hollow living tubes of the upright branching individuals of a colony), within chambers embedded entirely in the coenosteum (the calcareous mass forming the skeleton of a compound coral).

[3] A planula then floats in the water under it finds a reef it is able to attach to and grow back into a polyp, settling on a hard surface.

[5][6] They are found in shallow reefs where the most amount of sunlight is able to reach them, allowing for a higher rate of photosynthesis of the algae that lives in their tissues.

[3] The polyps of fire corals are near microscopic size and are mostly embedded in the skeleton and connected by a network of minute canals.

The hairs possess clusters of stinging cells and capture prey, which is then engulfed by gastrozooids, or feeding polyps, situated within the gastropores.

The very small nematocysts on fire corals contain tentacles, protruding from numerous surface pores (similar to jellyfish stingers).

Overfishing has ‘knock-on’ effects that result in the increase of macroalgae that can outcompete and smother corals, and fishing using destructive methods physically devastates the reef.

[4] Most fire coral species have brittle skeletons that can easily be broken, for example, during storms, or by divers when diving for leisure, or when collecting fish for the aquarium trade.

[11] Sixteen species of Millepora are currently recognised:[12] This article incorporates text from the ARKive fact-file "Fire coral" under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License and the GFDL.