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Corals Glossary

water depth measured to the ocean floor from the water surface; the oceanic equivalent of topography.
the process by which corals extract calcium from seawater and create calcium carbonate.
an animal phylum characterized by stinging cells called nematocysts, that contains the stony (hard) corals, anemones, sea fans, sea pens, hydras, and jellyfish.
a group of marine animals belonging to the phylum cnidaria, that exist as small sea anemone-like polyps, typically in colonies of many identical individuals; or the skeletal remains of coral polyps.
coral bleaching
the loss of color in corals due to stress-induced expulsion of symbiotic zooxanthellae algae.
coral polyp
coral reef
molecular diffusion
symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit.
process inside living cells in which sugars and oxygen are turned into carbon dioxide, water and energy.
the concentration of salts dissolved in water.

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