alcyonacea

Meaning

An order of soft corals that lack a hard, calcified skeleton and instead possess flexible, fleshy bodies supported by tiny internal structures called sclerites.

Examples

• The Alcyonacea are often referred to as soft corals because they do not build the rigid reef structures associated with stony corals.
• Researchers studied the chemical defenses of various Alcyonacea species to understand how they survive in competitive reef environments.