Author Archives: telobios

HQI versus LED

Comparison of HQI and LED lighting systems on Coral Growth     Lighting systems and absorption spectra   Lighting is crucial to life and calcification of corals. It allows the photosynthesis by symbiotic dinoflagellates (zooxanthellae). This involves the use of a set of molecules including photosynthetic pigments like chlorophyll a …

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Jewel Anemones

An english version about this topic is available on the Coral morphologic blog   http://coralmorphologic.com/b/2009/06/19/corynactis-quest-dive-1-in-the-french-mediterranean http://coralmorphologic.com/b/2009/06/23/corynactis-quest-dive-2-in-the-french-mediterranean http://coralmorphologic.com/b/2009/07/02/corynactis-quest-dive-3-in-the-french-mediterranean

Vice Zoa finds his family

Colin Foord recently co-authored a peer-reviewed scientific paper on four new species of Zoanthids in Florida waters. The zoanthids were discovered by expeditions undertaken by Coral Morphologic and several of the new species are occasionally offered on the Caribbean livestock specialist.   An english version about this topic is available …

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Disease, immunity and Coral bleaching

Olivier Detournay, an immunologist who recently joined Coral Biome, is working closely with the team of Virginia Weis at the Oregon State University (OSU) and the Hawaiian Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB), addressing fundamental questions on the symbiotic relationship between zooxanthellae and corals.   “Unity is strength”. This proverb is probably …

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Eco-Gorgs Logical

One of us recently visited Coral Morphologic’s Miami Lab. Our good friends Colin Foord and Jared McKay expanded their livestock list and recently added new Caribbean gorgonians.   Collected in the respect of the environment (very few fragments are cut off from the wild colonies), selected for the best colors, …

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Palythoa grandis: cautions required!

Palytoxins are back under the spotlight! Coral Biome breeds in its facility some potentially toxic zoanthids. To get the bottom of it, we carried out a study based upon the same protocol described by Jonathan Deeds and his colleagues in the “Plos One” journal in 2011, a publication previously discussed on …

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Fossil reef

What’s more surprising than a short walk on a coral reef near… Marseilles! This incredible situation is indeed possible because of the main feature of hard corals: a carbonate skeleton that fossilizes easily. Some of us probably know the little port of Carry-le-Rouet, located about thirty kilometers from Marseilles (France). …

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The “Naked coral” hypothesis

Today, it is well known that the anthropogenic rise in atmospheric CO2 is changing not only the climate but also the chemistry of the world’s oceans. First, global warming is causing massive coral bleaching. But a rise in coral disease by undermining their ability to build reefs is also produced …

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To be or not To be

DNA evidence suggests that the genera Palythoa and Protopalythoa are actually all members of a single genus.   The taxonomic status of the Zoanthid genera Palythoa and Protopalythoa has been under question by biologists for almost a century. Previous morphological and histological studies have separated these two genera on the …

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Palytoxin. Danger!

Recently, Jonathan Deeds and his collaborators published a very interesting study about one of our favourite animals in the open access journal ‘Plos One’. They reported the case of a zoanthid colony from a home aquarium which was responsible for a severe respiratory reaction due to palytoxin when a hobbyist …

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