The experiments readily showed, as expected, that healthy corals had much more of the seawater-labeled carbon than ... up both in the tissue of the coral polyp or inside the algae.

For the first time, the scientists were able to examine living coral polyps in the lab, under highly controlled conditions. This system is based on microfluidics technology, which had been ...

The co-operative spirit of corals goes deeper, too. Polyps get much of their energy from single-celled algae living within their tissues. It’s a marriage of convenience: the polyps give the ...

Coral is comprised of tiny individual creatures called polyps, which form a connected hardened shell when living en masse in a colony. The average polyp grows to about a quarter of an inch.

The reef had just been “bleached”—symbiotic algae that live in each tiny coral polyp got too hot, and the coral had expelled them. “The polyps turned white, and they were weak. But they ...

The experiments readily showed, as expected, that healthy corals had much more of the seawater-labeled carbon than ... up both in the tissue of the coral polyp or inside the algae.