A Palaeozoic order of zoantharians that are always colonial, never solitary, and that possess small corallites. Tabulae (see tabula) are the major skeletal elements and septa (see septum) are usually absent. The corallum is built of individual corallites, not always connected to each other, and may be encrusting, may consist of thin sheets, or may be massive. Other forms may be joined side by side to form fence-like structures. Smaller tabulates appear to have lived in deeper waters, whereas the larger tabulates appear in coral–stromatoporoid (see stromatoporoidea) associations.