University of Hawaii scientists are being recognized with an honorable mention award for their video showing living coral under a microscope.

The video was among 200 entries to the 2012 International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge.

Hawaii Institute for Marine Biology scholars Christine Farrar, Zac Forsman, Ruth Gates, Jo-Ann Leong and Robert Toonen competed against teams from 18 countries, 19 states and Canadian territories.

Video narrator Gates said in a statement Monday most people think corals are inanimate rocks. She says the video shows they are beautiful and dynamic.

The video shows corals extending and retracting glowing tentacles. It shows tiny creatures crawling over the corals.

Their video is available on the National Science Foundation’s website.