Not all blue corals are blue...

Andrew Baker abaker at rsmas.miami.edu
Tue Jun 9 12:45:12 EDT 1998


Hello blue-coral-listers

Just a quick note to say that some bleached corals, for example Siderastrea
siderea in the Caribbean, appear blue when they are observed on the reef.
However, if you take any photos with a strobe, or bring the corals out of
the water, they are in fact pink.

This observation probably does not apply to all the blue coral discussion
in the last 24 hours, but I think it certainly applies to some cases. Its
interesting to me that the same two colors appear to be cropping up in our
discussions: blue and pink (or purple, which I think might just reflect
higher concentrations of the (animal) pigment). I wonder how many of our
observations have been made in full sunlight - might some of the variation
we are reporting simply be an outcome of the differential attenuation of
wavelengths with depth?

Andrew

******************************************************************************
Andrew Baker
Division of Marine Biology & Fisheries
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
University of Miami
4600 Rickenbacker Causeway
Miami, Florida 33149, USA

Voice: +1 (305) 361 4145
Fax: +1 (305) 361 4600

Email: abaker at rsmas.miami.edu




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