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Morphology and Ecological Physiology of Corals
R,%r----------------------------.
{jf}
T
80
1./0
20
s
10
20
JO
Time,l17in
Fig. 8.6. Inclusion of 14C-acetate into the lipid fraction of isolated zooxanthellae from the
coral Seriatopora; R percent of radioactivity: in the triglycerides (T), in the phospholipids
(P) and in sterols (S). (After Patton and Burris 1983)
Fig. 8.7. Scheme of metabolic relationships of the cell zooxanthella with the cell of the
host polyp
The same was observed in experiments with intact coral polyps, which
transform the assimilated 14C-acetate in light into the phospholipid and then
into the triglyceride fraction (Blanquet et al. 1979; Fig. 8.6). In the intact
tissues of the polyp the zooxanthellae translocate their photosynthates to the