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coral reef
A reef or marine bank of rock formed by the growth and deposit of coral; ‘a connected mass of coral structures, whether trending away in long partially-submerged ledges, encircling islands like breakwater-barriers, or rising as low ring-shaped islets above the water’ (Page).
The reef-building corals are chiefly madrepores of the genera Meandrina, Caryophyllia, and Astroides.
1745P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 151 A Coral Riff of Rocks between us and the Shore. 1832H. T. De la Beche Geol. Man. 151 In the Pacific, where volcanos and coral reefs are both abundant. 1888Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 743 Some of the Madreporaria descend to great depths..The majority form the well-known coral reefs. |