[Coral-List] symbiont digestion

[Robert van Woesik]

While the experimental work by Weinmann et al (2023) in Nature is laudable and an excellent extension of our understanding of coral symbiosis, and with all due respect to the classic work by Trench, Muscatine et al., and later Titlyanov et al (1996) Marine Ecology Progress Series 139: 167-178) on the potential digestion of symbionts by coral hosts, H Boschma in 1925, page 429, was the first to 'discover' that corals digest or partially digest their symbionts.

Biological Bulletin (Marine Biol Lab Woods Hole) 49: 407-439. https://doi.org/10.2307/1536652. See: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1536652.
"These algae are always found in the remains of the food in the gastric cavity. These algae are here in different stages of decomposition, owing to their being digested by the polyps" Boschma 1925 (page 49).

Best regards

Rob van Woesik

Robert van Woesik
Professor
Institute for Global Ecology
Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences
Florida Institute of Technology
150 West University Blvd., Melbourne,
Florida 32901, USA

Director of the Institute of Global Ecology
Fellow of the International Society for Reef Studies
Citations<https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=GZLhRJAAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao>