English Explanatory Dictionary

black coral

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Any of various tropical corals of the family Antipathidae.

Word forms

black coral black corals

Etymology

From the black colouration of their skeletons of the corals, made of chitin; unlike shallow-water corals which use calcium carbonate to build white skeletons, evident during coral bleaching events which reveal the colour of the skeletons, due to the transparent corals expelling their colourful algae symbionts.

Related words

coral coral bleaching coralporosis deep coral hard coral octocoral soft coral
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