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Preface
Scleractinian corals are the architects of coral reefs and hence good indicators of
environmental changes. Being sedentary in nature, scleractinian corals are a good
representative of their environment. Heavy metals get incorporated into the coral
skeleton through the substitution of dissolved metal species via calcium substitution
and remain embedded forever since the new growth covers the old carbonate surface.
Heavy metal regulation in marine invertebrates can be obtained through excretion, impaired uptake, detoxification, storage, sequestration of metals, metal-binding
to proteins such as glutathione and metallothioneins and release of metals via
increased production of mucus or nematocyst discharge, and scleractinian corals
are no exception to this. Various analytical techniques are used to analyze heavy
metal concentrations in different components of diverse corals.
Lautoka, Fiji
Sofia B. Shah