dissepiment

Summary

small subglobose or blister-like plate, not extending across the full width of a corallite, more or less transverse in orientation, but also commonly inclined. Dissepiments are usually stacked more or less regularly on top of each other to form a continuous structure. They are often thickened, and even infilled, by stereome. In rugosans, they are confined to the marginal zone of corallites (i.e. the dissepimentarium), and the septa may or may not pass through this zone (see Lonsdaleoid dissepiments). In Scleractinia, they can occur within all but the axial region of corallites (endothecal dissepiments), and also outside the corallite walls (exothecal dissepiments) in the coenosteum of colonial forms. They sometimes form a wall--ike intercorallite zone (paratheca) in colonial Scleractinia. In Tabulata, they can develop in the coenenchyme. See also Horseshoe dissepiment, Lonsdaleoid dissepiments.

Orthography

Not yet available.

Modifiers

• endothecal dissepiment
• exothecal dissepiment
• lonsdaleioid dissepiment
• tabular dissepiment
• cellular dissepiment
• globose dissepiment
• tabuloid dissepiment
• vescicular dissepiment

Description

Not yet available.

This version was contributed by Ken Johnson on 22-Apr-2008 14:35.