Underwater Microscope Has Caught Wild Coral 'Kissing' For First Time
- 8 years ago
Thanks to a newly developed microscope camera, researchers are gaining insights into the secret lives of truly tiny coral polyps.
Thanks to a newly developed microscope camera, researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego are gaining insights into the secret lives of truly tiny coral polyps, reports New Scientist.
It turns out, the sea creatures are both lovers and fighters.
Footage taken on the floor of Israel’s Gulf of Eilat shows the animals engaging in a behavior that looks a lot like kissing.
The embraces tend to occur after the consumption of plankton, leading the researchers to believe it has something to do with the exchange of nutrients, notes the Washington Post.
Not every act observed by the scientists was of such a gregarious nature, according to the National Geographic.
When polyps of different species were placed in close proximity, a war of sorts broke out, with one trying to use its gut filaments to digest its nemesis.
Thanks to a newly developed microscope camera, researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego are gaining insights into the secret lives of truly tiny coral polyps, reports New Scientist.
It turns out, the sea creatures are both lovers and fighters.
Footage taken on the floor of Israel’s Gulf of Eilat shows the animals engaging in a behavior that looks a lot like kissing.
The embraces tend to occur after the consumption of plankton, leading the researchers to believe it has something to do with the exchange of nutrients, notes the Washington Post.
Not every act observed by the scientists was of such a gregarious nature, according to the National Geographic.
When polyps of different species were placed in close proximity, a war of sorts broke out, with one trying to use its gut filaments to digest its nemesis.