Coral reefs

Coral reefs

Coral reefs are structures formed from the calcium carbonate secretions of corals. They are colonies of tiny animals in marine areas containing few nutrients.

Industry: Natural environment

Add a new term

Contributors in Coral reefs

Become a Contributors

Coral reefs

esthete

Natural environment; Coral reefs

A light sensitive organ in a minute vertical canal in the upper layer of the shell plate of a chiton.

melanin

Natural environment; Coral reefs

A pigment in the skin of animals which determines skin and coat color. It is found in two chemically different forms: eumelanin (which produces brown and black) and phaeomelanin (which produces ...

A soft coral in the order Pennatulacea and subclass Alcyonaria. A sea pansy is a colony of polyps having different forms and functions. A single, leaf-like, giant primary polyp up to two inches in ...

cartilage

Natural environment; Coral reefs

A type of connective tissue where the functional component is the rubbery intercellular matrix that is secreted by cartilage-producing cells called chondrocytes. Cartilage exists in several forms, ...

serous membrane

Natural environment; Coral reefs

An epithelial and connective tissue membrane that lines body cavities and covers visceral organs within these cavities. Epithelial cells constituting this membrane secrete a fluid (serous fluid) to ...

conger eel

Natural environment; Coral reefs

Any species of eel in the family Congridae. Conger eels have a thick cylindrical body and tapering snout. They possess a smooth and scaleless skin and large pectoral fins. They are much less common ...

feather star

Natural environment; Coral reefs

Feather stars are echinoderms in the class Crinoidea. The juveniles attach to the substrate by a stalk with rootlike branches. The mouth side faces upward. In the adult stage they break away from the ...