 Again, knowing what to say about the striking claim that the polyp-zooxanthellae-calcite deposit complex is an organism turns in part on the empirical facts, but on more than just those. Polyps, zooxanthellae and whole reef complexes do not wear placards that state which is an example of an organism, and whether all three should be viewed as biological individuals of some kind or other (and which kind). The interplay between our conceptions and empirical complexities both allows those conceptions to be unpacked and informs how they might be regimented to better capture nuances of the biological world inaccessible to commonsense reflection alone. 