stony coral

noun

1. a true coral consisting of numerous anthozoan polyps embedded in the calcareous material that they secrete.

stony coral

noun

1. any coral of the order Madreporaria, having a calcareous skeleton, aggregations of which form reefs and islands

Word History and Origins

Origin of stony coral¹

First recorded in 1610–20

Example Sentences

They examined the effects of stony coral tissue loss disease on fish and benthic reef communities, which comprises anything living on the sea floor, like coral, algae, and sponges.

From Science Daily

The study "Microorganisms uniquely capture and predict stony coral tissue loss disease and hurricane disturbance impacts on US Virgin Islands reefs," published in Environmental Microbiology explains the impacts coral reef disturbances have on microbes.

From Science Daily

To date, studies of storm impacts have largely focused on scleractinian or stony corals.

From Science Daily

To find out, the scientists injected Nematostella embryos with a gene from the stony coral Stylophora pistillata known for helping the animal concentrate the calcium that ultimately leads to skeleton formation.

From Science Daily

They are made up of stony corals, which are hard skeletons formed by thousands of individual living coral polyps that symbiotically host algae.

From Seattle Times