*3.1. Coral Used for Isolation of Collagen Fibers*

*Sarcophyton* soft corals (Figure 1A) were frozen following harvesting and defrosted prior to fiber extraction. A piece of the colony was torn to expose the fibers, which were then physically pulled out from the soft coral (Figure 1B). The fibers were manually spun around a thin rectangular-shaped metal frame to create unidirectional, straight, and organized array of fiber bundles (Figure 2A). The aligned fibers were carefully washed several times in water, PBS, and then with 70% ethanol.
