Nature's Tiny Engineers: How Corals Stir Things Up [VIDEO]

Corals, once thought to be merely passive organisms in the world's oceans, are actually nature's tiny engineers, according to a new study, effectively stirring up currents to bring in nutrients and oxygen.

"These microenvironmental processes are not only important, but also unexpected," senior author Roman Stocker, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at MIT, said in a statement.

It was once thought that corals - whose calcium-carbonate skeletons form the foundation of coral reefs - were passive organisms that relied entirely on ocean currents to deliver dissolved substances, such as nutrients and oxygen. However, new research brings their true nature to light. These creatures are not passive it all, it turns out. In fact, they are rather violent, sweeping water into turbulent patterns that greatly enhance their ability to exchange nutrients and dissolved gases with their environment.