Within the trabeculae of the sponge-work blood circulates, and between the trabeculae the water passes,.
The structure of the corpora cavernosa consists of a strong fibrous coat, the tunica albuginea, from the deep surface of which numerous fibrous trabeculae penetrate the interior and divide it into a number of spaces which are lined with endothelium and communicate with the veins.
The structure of the corpus spongiosum and glans resembles that of the corpora cavernosa, but the trabeculae are finer and the network closer.
In others the peripheral ends of the septa are united only by bars or trabeculae, so that the theca is perforate, and in many such perforate corals the septa themselves are pierced by numerous perforations.
Space forbids a discussion of the proposals to classify corals after the minute structure of their coralla, but it will suffice to say that it has been shown that the septa of all corals are built up of a number of curved bars called trabeculae, each of which is composed of a number of nodes.