Can an organism be visible from space?

No matter how large some animals may become, they are no match for colonies made up of a myriad of small sea creatures, the corals.

Coral colonies are nothing more than coral reefs, which can become as large as entire nations.

Corals are themselves made up of many small animals with a hollow, cylindrical structure called polyps, which anchor themselves to rocks or the seabed with one of their ends, and use their tentacles to feed themselves and filter the water.

When an octopus dies, it leaves behind its calcium carbonate skeleton. These empty shells accumulate to form the supporting structure of coral reefs.

If the environment analogous to the open sea are grasslands, coral reefs are somewhat like the rainforests of the oceans. They form in shallow waters where a large amount of sunlight can penetrate and support a remarkable biodiversity.

The largest and best known is the Great Barrier Reef, located just north of Australia.

It is also the only living organism that can be seen from space, being larger than the United Kingdom and longer than the west coast of the United States.