elkhorn coral

noun

elk·​horn coral ˈelk-ˌhȯrn- How to pronounce elkhorn coral (audio)
: a reef-building branching coral (Acropora palmata) of shallow waters of southern Florida and the West Indies

Examples of elkhorn coral in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Flashback: Five years ago, the aquarium was part of a coral cross-breeding effort in which elkhorn corals from the Caribbean island of Curaçao were fertilized using coral sperm from Florida. Sommer Brugal, Axios, 17 July 2024 University of Miami Rosenstiel School MIAMI — Off the northern coast of Honduras, thick stands of endangered elkhorn coral have mysteriously defied warming oceans fueled by climate change to blanket the reef with healthy, cocoa-brown colonies branching toward the water’s surface like antlers. Jenny Staletovich, NPR, 22 June 2024 Here, snorkelers benefit from large brain and elkhorn coral in waters that only about four to eight feet deep. Alex Schechter, Travel + Leisure, 24 May 2024 Scientists only found living elkhorn coral at three sites: Carysfort Reef, Sombrero Reef in the middle Keys and Eastern Dry Rocks off Key West. Alex Harris, Miami Herald, 16 Feb. 2024 Dead skeletons of the elkhorn corals were covered in algae, dust and sediment. Jenny Jarvie, Los Angeles Times, 1 Aug. 2023 In Florida, bleaching in the summer of 2014 harmed or destroyed a third of elkhorn corals at federal monitoring sites across the Upper Keys. Jenny Jarvie, Los Angeles Times, 1 Aug. 2023 On Sunday, September 2, Kimani Kitson-Walters, a native of Jamaica who works at the Caribbean Netherlands Science Institute on Sint-Eustatius, reports—with celebratory emojis—that Sint-Eustatius’s elkhorn coral colonies were spawning. Michelle Nijhuis, Discover Magazine, 12 Oct. 2018 Acropora is a genus of common stony corals comprising table coral, elkhorn coral, and staghorn coral, along with others. Grrlscientist, Forbes, 10 Jan. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1928, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of elkhorn coral was in 1928

Dictionary Entries Near elkhorn coral

Cite this Entry

“Elkhorn coral.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/elkhorn%20coral. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024.

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