coral (koral)

and a. [Early mod. E. also corall, corral, corrall, IMG:content-1281.jpg:[graphic] coral ducing zoöphytes are usually compound animals, young buds sprouting from the body of the parent polyp and remaining connected with it on the same spot even after it is dead; so that a piece of coral may be regarded as the abode either of one compound animal or of a multitude of individuals. The coralline structure sometimes branches like a shrub, sometimes spreads like a fan, a umes the appearance of a brain, a flower, a mushroom, etc. (See cut under brain - coral.) These structures sometimes, as in the Pacific and southern parts of the Indian ocean, form reefs from 20 yards to several miles in breadth, extending for hundreds of miles along the coasts, and also the peculiar coral islands known as atolls. (See atoll.) The more abundant reef-builders, at the more 1. Sea-fan Coral ( Gorgon i a flabellum). 2. Madrepore Coral ( Madre por a cervicornis). 3. Mushroom Coral ( Fungia dentata ). moderate depths, are the madrepores, astræids, porites, and me and rines, and, at depths of from 15 to 20 fathoms, the millepores and ser i a to pores-the great field of coral-development thus lying between low water and 20 fathoms. Coral is nearly a pure calcium carbonate, mixed with more or le horny or gelatinous matter. The fine red coral of commerce, much used for ornaments, is a sclerobasic coral, in appearance somewhat resembling a tree deprived of its leaves and twigs. It is found chiefly in the Mediterranean, where several coral fisheries exist, as off the coasts of Provence, Sardinia, etc. See Cor all i gena, Corallium, Octo coralla, Sclerobasica, Sclerodermata. 2. A child's toy, consisting of a branch of smooth coral with a ring attached, and usually with the addition of small bells and a whistle. IMG:content-1282.jpg:[blocks in formation] 3. The unimpregnated roe or eggs of the lobster, which when boiled a ume the appearance of coral.-4. A fleshy-leafed cra ulaceous house-plant, Rochea coccinea, native of South Africa, bearing bright-scarlet flowers. - Black coral, sclerobasic coral of the family An tip at hid a. Blue coral, a coral of the family Helioporida, Heliopora cærule a, occurring in many of the coral reefs of the Pacific ocean.-Cup-coral. (a) A coral of the family Cyathophyl lide. (b) Same as corallite, 2. - Eporose, perforate, rugose, tabulate, tubulose coral. See Eporosa, Perfo rata, Rugosa, Tabulata, Tubulosa. — Millepore coral. See Hydrocoral linæ, Mil leporid a. - Mushroom coral, coral of the family Funglide. - Organ coral, organ-pipe coral, tub i por a ceo us coral; coral of the family Tubipo ride.-Pink coral, a pale variety of red coral, used for ornaments.-Red coral, Corallium rubrum, an important genus of sclerobasic corals belonging to the order Alcyo naria, the polyps po e ing eight fringed tentacles. Red coral is highly valued for the manufacture of jewelry, and is obtained from the coasts of Sicily, Italy, and other parts of the Mediterranean. See cut under Cor all i gena. - Star coral, coral of the family Astræidæ. II. a. 1. Made of coral; consisting of coral; coralline: as, a coral ornament; a coral reef. -2. Making coral; coralligenous: as, a coral polyp.-3. Containing coral; coraled; coralliferous: as, a coral grove.-4. Resembling coral; especially, of the color of commercial coral; pinkish-red; red: specifically, in her., used of that color when described in blazoning a nobleman's escutcheon according to the system of precious stones. See blazon , n . , 2. Forth from her Coral Lips such Folly broke. Congreve, Lesbia. In ancient times the juggler, when he threw off his mantle, appeared in a tight scarlet or coral dre . Brewer. Coral bean. See bean - Coral insect, a coral polyp; one of the individual animals a colony of which makes a coral polypidom: a popular designation, now avoided by careful writers, the animal not being an "insect." - Coral island, an island the formation of which is due to the deposition of coral by polyps. See atoll. - Coral lacquer, coral lac, ornamental work in which the surface in the thickne of a red lacquer, which is applied upon a foundation, usually of wood. See lacquer. - Coral ore, a 1260 curved lamellar variety of hepatic cinnabar from Idria, Carniola. - Coral reef, a reef of coral. See I., 1. - Coral shoemaker, a fish of the family Teuthididæ and genus Teuthis or Acanth urus, living in the coral reefs of the Seychelles. coral-berry (kor'al-ber"i), n. The Symphoricarpos vulgar is, a shrub resembling the snowberry, but having the berries dark-red and clustered in the axils of the leaves. coraled, coralled (kor'ald), a. [ centrida.