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.
| 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 151 A Coral Riff of Rocks between us and the Shore. 1832 H. T. De la Beche Geol. Man. 151 In the Pacific, where volcanos and coral reefs are both abundant. 1888 Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 743 Some of the Madreporaria descend to great depths..The majority form the well-known coral reefs. |