Ls. Fang et al., PIGMENT COMPOSITION IN DIFFERENT-COLORED SCLERACTINIAN CORALS BEFORE AND DURING THE BLEACHING PROCESS, Zoological studies, 34(1), 1995, pp. 10-17
Pigment composition in different-colored scleractinian corals before a
nd during the bleaching process. Zoological Studies 34(1): 10-17. Scle
ractinian corals have many different color types in water. All the col
ors become bleached when the coral is under stress. The pigment change
s behind these phenomena were investigated in the study. Analysis of p
igment composition in four color types of seven stony coral species sh
owed chi. a, chi. c(2), peridinin, diadinoxanthin and dinoxanthin comp
rised more than 95% of the total amount of pigments. There was little
compositional difference between these pigments in corals of different
color. During bleaching caused by salinity change, both the number of
zooxanthella in each polyp and the amount of total pigment in each zo
oxanthellae decreased with time. The rate of decline of porphyrins coi
ncided with the level of stress that was created by lowering the salin
ity of the incubation sea water. The rate of decline of carotenoids wa
s less sensitive. This suggests that the rate of change of porphyrins
could reflect the bleaching status of stony coral.