<descriptor thcode="62"><thesaurus thcode="62" name="Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard" scope="Categories of ecosystems for coastal, estuarine, and marine environments." creator="FGDC" rights="public domain" date="2017-05-10" codetype="alpha" prefix="cmecs" uri="https://www2.usgs.gov/science/CMECS" tblname="cmecs" root_code="root" contact="pschweitzer"><category><term thcode="25" code="16" name="hierarchical" parent="11" scope="Substantive broader-narrower relationships exist among the terms."/><term thcode="25" code="16" name="hierarchical" parent="11" scope="Substantive broader-narrower relationships exist among the terms."/></category><altlabel><altlabel>CMECS</altlabel><altlabel>CMECS</altlabel><altlabel>Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS)</altlabel><altlabel>Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS)</altlabel></altlabel></thesaurus><term thcode="62" code="BC-390" name="Reef Biota" parent="BC-389" scope="Biotic Class: Areas dominated by reef-building fauna, including living corals, mollusks, polychaetes or glass sponges. ..."/><bt><term thcode="62" code="BC-389" name="Benthic/Attached Biota" parent="BC-C002" scope="Biotic Setting: This biotic setting describes areas where biota lives on, in, or in close association with the seafloor or other substrates (e.g., pilings, buoys), extending down into the sediment to include the sub-surface layers of substrate that contain multi-cellular life. ..."/><term thcode="62" code="BC-C002" name="Biotic" parent="root"/><term thcode="62" code="root" name="CMECS" scope="Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard: Category terms encompassing waters from the head of tide or inland incursion of ocean salinity to the splash zone of the coasts to the deepest portions of the oceans and the deep waters of the Great Lakes."/></bt><nt><term thcode="62" code="BC-420" name="Deepwater/Coldwater Coral Reef Biota" parent="BC-390" scope="Biotic Subclass: Areas dominated by biota closely associated with the structures and settings created by azooxanthellate (lacking symbiotic algae), deep-water, stony corals (Order Scleractinia) or stylasterid corals (Order Anthoathecatae; Family Stylasteridae). ..."/><term thcode="62" code="BC-422" name="Glass Sponge Reef Biota" parent="BC-390" scope="Biotic Subclass: Areas dominated by live, deep-water, glass sponges (Order: Hexactinosida) present in densities that are judged sufficient to form substrate. ..."/><term thcode="62" code="BC-423" name="Mollusk Reef Biota" parent="BC-390" scope="Biotic Subclass: Areas dominated by consolidated aggregations of living and dead mollusks, usually bivalves (e.g., oysters or mussels or giant clams) or gastropods (e.g., vermetids) attached to their conspecifics and sufficiently abundant to create substrate."/><term thcode="62" code="BC-421" name="Shallow/Mesophotic Coral Reef Biota" parent="BC-390" scope="Biotic Subclass: Areas with ample light that are dominated by hermatypic (reef-building) hard corals or non-hermatypic reef colonizers. ..."/><term thcode="62" code="BC-424" name="Worm Reef Biota" parent="BC-390" scope="Biotic Subclass: Areas dominated by relatively stable, ridge- or mound-like aggregations of living and non-living material formed by the colonization and growth of worm species (e.g., sabellariids)."/></nt></descriptor>