Spectral diversity and regulation of coral fluorescence in a mesophotic reef habitat in the Red Sea
Eyal, G.; Wiedenmann, J.; Grinblat, M.; D'Angelo, C.; Kramarsky-Winter, E.; Treibitz, T.; Ben-Zvi, O.; Shaked, Y.; Smith, T.B.; Harii, S.; Denis, V.; Noyes, T.; Tamir, R.; Loya, Y. (2015). Spectral diversity and regulation of coral fluorescence in a mesophotic reef habitat in the Red Sea. PLoS One 10(6): e0128697. https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0128697
In: PLoS One. Public Library of Science: San Francisco. ISSN 1932-6203; e-ISSN 1932-6203, more
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| Keywords |
Environmental Management > Monitoring & Surveillance
Environmental Managers & Monitoring
Exploitable Scientific Result
Marine Sciences
Marine Sciences > Marine Sciences General
Policy Makers / Decision Makers
Scientific Community
Scientific Publication
Marine/Coastal |
| Project | Top | Authors |
- Association of European marine biological laboratories, more
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| Authors | | Top |
- Eyal, G.
- Wiedenmann, J.
- Grinblat, M.
- D'Angelo, C.
- Kramarsky-Winter, E.
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- Treibitz, T.
- Ben-Zvi, O.
- Shaked, Y.
- Smith, T.B.
- Harii, S.
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- Denis, V.
- Noyes, T.
- Tamir, R.
- Loya, Y.
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| Abstract |
The phenomenon of coral fluorescence in mesophotic reefs, although well described for shallow waters, remains largely unstudied. We found that representatives of many scleractinian species are brightly fluorescent at depths of 50-60 m at the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences (IUI) reef in Eilat, Israel. Some of these fluorescent species have distribution maxima at mesophotic depths (40-100 m). Several individuals from these depths displayed yellow or orange-red fluorescence, the latter being essentially absent in corals from the shallowest parts of this reef. We demonstrate experimentally that in some cases the production of fluorescent pigments is independent of the exposure to light; while in others, the fluorescence signature is altered or lost when the animals are kept in darkness. Furthermore, we show that green-to-red photoconversion of fluorescent pigments mediated by short-wavelength light can occur also at depths where ultraviolet wavelengths are absent from the underwater light field. Intraspecific colour polymorphisms regarding the colour of the tissue fluorescence, common among shallow water corals, were also observed for mesophotic species. Our results suggest that fluorescent pigments in mesophotic reefs fulfil a distinct biological function and offer promising application potential for coral-reef monitoring and biomedical imaging. |
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