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A genus of simple, stony corals; -- so called because they are usually flat and circular, with radiating plates, like the gills of a mushroom. Some of them are eighteen inches in diameter.

Of or pertaining to the Fungidæ, a family of stony corals. -- n.

A fossil coral resembling Fungia.

Having small clusters of minutely branched coral-like excrescences. M. C. Cooke.

Pertaining to the Gorgoniacea; as, gorgonian coral.

oluted ridge between grooves; a convolution; as, the gyri of the brain; the gyri of brain coral. See Brain.

A genus of Silurian fossil corals; the chain corals. See Chain coral, under Chain.

A fossil coral of the genus Heliolites, having twelve-rayed cells. It is found in the Silurian rocks.

An East Indian stony coral now known to belong to the Alcyonaria; -- called also blue coral.

Any coral of the genus Isis, or family Isidæ, composed of joints of white, stony coral, alternating with flexible, horny joints. See Gorgoniacea.

A gorgonian coral having a horny axis.

A lake in a coral island, often occupying a large portion of its area, and usually communicating with the sea. See Atoll. Lagoon island, a coral island consisting of a narrow reef encircling a lagoon.

Stone-producing; -- said of polyps which form coral.

A hard, or stony, plantlike organism, as the gorgonians, corals, and corallines, esp. those gorgonians having a calcareous axis. All the lithophytes except the corallines are animals.

A genus of reef corals abundant in tropical seas. It includes than one hundred and fifty species, most of which are elegantly branched. -- Mad`re*po"ral, a.

An extensive division of Anthozoa, including most of the species that produce stony corals. See Illust. of Anthozoa. -- Mad`re*po*ra"ri*an, a. & n.

Any coral of the genus Madrepora; formerly, often applied to any stony coral.

Resembling a madreporian coral in form or structure.

A fossil coral.

A genus of corals with meandering grooves and ridges, including the brain corals.