alcyonacea

from The Century Dictionary.

• An order or suborder of Alcyonaria in which the skeleton consists of loose spicules embedded in a well-developed canaliferous cœnenchyma without axial skeletal rod. The group contains the families Xeniidæ, Alcyonidæ, and Nephthyidæ. Nearly equivalent to Alcyoniaceæ.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun plural (Zoöl.) A group of soft-bodied Alcyonaria, of which Alcyonium is the type. See Illust. under alcyonaria.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun comprising the soft corals