In time, it helps to create one of nature’s most spectacular ecosystems: a coral reef. Orange, blue, and sparkling-silver fish dart around a seascape of vibrant greens, yellows, pinks ...

This story appears in the May 2011 issue of National Geographic magazine. Not far beneath the surface of the Coral Sea, where the Great Barrier Reef lives, parrotfish teeth grind against rock ...

National Geographic scientists recently discovered the world's largest coral colony in the southwest Pacific Ocean, deemed the "mega" coral. The National Geographic Society's Pristine Seas team ...