Abstract
Fluorescence is highly prevalent in reef-building corals, nevertheless its biological role is still under ongoing debate. This feature of corals was previously suggested to primarily screen harmful radiation or facilitate coral photosynthesis. In mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs; 30-150 m depth) corals experience a limited, blue-shifted light environment. Consequently, in contrast to their shallow conspecifics, they might not be able to rely on photosynthates from their photosymbionts as their main energy source. Here, we experimentally test an alternative hypothesis for coral fluorescence: a prey-lure mechanism for plankton. We show that plankton exhibit preferential swimming towards green fluorescent cues and that compared to other morphs, higher predation rates are recorded in a green fluorescing morph of the mesophotic coral Euphyllia paradivisa. The evidence provided here - that plankton are actively attracted to fluorescent signals - indicates the significant role of fluorescence in amplifying the nutritional sink adjacent to coral reefs.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 537 |
| Journal | Communications Biology |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We would like to thank the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat for making their facilities available to us. We thank G. Eviatar for her help in conducting the ex situ predation experiment, L. levy and S. Ayalon for their help with the ex situ attraction experiments; R. Tamir, A. Oren, D. Shefi, G. Eviatar, R. Liberman, L. Levy, D. Churilov, G. Zaltzman, and O. Hameiri for their diving assistance; and all the YL lab members for their support. We thank M. Ohavia for the technical support; B.V. Farstey for plankton identification assistance; and N. Paz for her linguistic editing. This research was funded by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF): ISF-NRF (The National Research Foundation of Singapore) joint research program grant No. 2654/17 to Y.L. and by the Ministry of Science, Technology & Space fellowship agreement No. 3-18487 to O.B.-Z.
Funding Information:
We would like to thank the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat for making their facilities available to us. We thank G. Eviatar for her help in conducting the ex situ predation experiment, L. levy and S. Ayalon for their help with the ex situ attraction experiments; R. Tamir, A. Oren, D. Shefi, G. Eviatar, R. Liberman, L. Levy, D. Churilov, G. Zaltzman, and O. Hameiri for their diving assistance; and all the YL lab members for their support. We thank M. Ohavia for the technical support; B.V. Farstey for plankton identification assistance; and N. Paz for her linguistic editing. This research was funded by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF): ISF-NRF (The National Research Foundation of Singapore) joint research program grant No. 2654/17 to Y.L. and by the Ministry of Science, Technology & Space fellowship agreement No. 3-18487 to O.B.-Z.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).