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Mobile Food
Anthozoans are not mobile animals, so they depend on the movement of the sea to being food to them. Microscopic animals like zooplankton are carried past anthozoans on the waves or tide. Small fishes migrating past also may be drawn in by an anthozoan tentacle. Certain kinds of corals and sea anemones also feed on algae and other organic matter or have symbiont relationships with other life forms that live on the coral reef.
Hunting and Feeding
The anthozoans of the coral reef prefer to hunt and feed at night. Their hunting technique is to extend a single tentacle, equipped with special sensors called nematocyst sensors, which attract their favorite foods. Some anthozoans also extend strings of digestive chemicals, mucus and saliva to trap more prey. The stomach cavities of colonial polyps are all interconnected, so when one finds a meal they can share it.
Zooplankton
Zooplankton is one of the anthozoans' main sources of food. Together with phytoplankton it forms plankton, a basic building block of marine life and a crucial food source for larger ocean animals such as whales. Zooplankton generally inhabit the area closer to the surface of the water and are weak swimmers that go where the tide carries them. This makes them an ideal food source for immobile anthozoans.
Zooxanthella
Another favorite food of anthozoans is zooxanthella. Zooxanthella is an algae with an important symbiont relationship with reef-building corals. It lives within the anthozoan polyp's tissue and will actually be deliberately cultivated by the anthozoan. This method of feeding is called farming. In return for providing the anthozoan with oxygen and food, the zooxanthella gets essential nutrients for life in a sheltered habitat.