stony coral

American  

noun

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

---

stony coral British  

noun

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

---

Etymology

Origin of stony coral

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 • May 3, 2024

Of acute concern is the highly contagious stony coral tissue loss disease that has emerged in the past four years.

From Scientific American • Dec. 9, 2022

“Their stony coral buddies don’t do a great job with producing sheets and trees,” Edmunds says.

From Science Magazine • Jul. 12, 2022

The most widely distributed and well-studied is Lophelia pertusa, a branching stony coral that begins life as a tiny larva, settles on hard substrate and grows into a bushy colony.

From Salon • Dec. 9, 2018

These walls were the express achievements of madrepores known by the names fire coral, finger coral, star coral, and stony coral.

From Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Walter, F. P.