Orange Montastrea cavernosa recruits?
Jamie D. Bechtel
warrior at bu.edu
Tue Jul 25 13:41:40 EDT 2000
Iain, i have done research on this phenomenon with regards to adult
colonies and planulae. fluoresence in planulae, recruits and colonies is
relatively common but often unobserved because we don't spend much time
underwater with fluroescent lights. preliminary results indicate that the
fluorescence is caused by intact, secondary photosynthetic pigments
(phycoerythrin, phycocyanin) which is counter-intuitive given that
zooxanthellae do not posses these pigments. the fluorescence is highly
visible in some species. something that i have not been able to figure out
is that often times- planulae fluoresce a different color than the adult
colony (pers. ob, discovery bay, species: agaricia a.). although specific
patterns of fluorescence are still undefined, the phenomena does not appear
to be stress related, although stress may enhance or diminsh the quality
and type of observable flurescence.
i hope this is helpful. let me know if you would like more specific
information.
cheers,
jamie
____________________________________________________________________
Jamie D. Bechtel
Boston University Boston College
Department of Biology Law School
5 Cummington Street 881 Centre Street
Boston, MA 02115 Newton, MA 02467
(617)353-6969
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