or CORAL, in zoology, a genus belonging to the order of vermes zoophyta. The trunk is radicated, jointed, and calcarious. The species are eight, distinguished by the form of their branches, and are found in the ocean adhering to stones, bones, shells, &c. The corals were formerly believed to be vegetable substances hardened by the air; but are generally believed to be composed of a congeries of animals, which are even endowed with the faculty of moving spontaneously. Linnaeus's order of zoophyta is composed of animals of this kind, as the spongea, fucaria, &c. See NATURAL HISTORY.