A natural skeleton of a red coral [Fungia fungites (L. 1758)]. Anthozoa (from the Greek for “flower animal”) are marine invertebrates, cnidarians, living in the form of a polyp. The specimen is a natural calcareous skeleton of a stony coral, mounted on a wooden pedestal similar in size to the specimen. The approximately circular coral has a diameter of 11.2 cm and a thickness of 2.8 cm. The presented object is a teaching aid for natural history classes, originating from the natural history classroom of the Imperial-Royal Gymnasium in Przemyśl, Poland. It originated in Prague, then part of Austria-Hungary (now the Czech Republic). Produced at the turn of the 20th century by the Lehrmittel/Naturalienhandlung /V.Fric/Prag., a company producing teaching aids. Václav (Wenzel) Frič (1839–1916) founded a natural history company in 1862, supplying mineral, botanical, and animal specimens to private collectors, museums, and educational institutions.
Stony coral
