Figure 3
From: Self-recognition in corals facilitates deep-sea habitat engineering
(A) Close-up image of a skeletal fusion-zone between white and orange Lophelia pertusa polyps. Note the occurrence of live, potentially allogeneically fused tissue within the red box. (B) Back Scattered Electron emission (BSE) micrograph of skeletal fusion between white and orange individual polyps of L. pertusa pictured in (A). The dashed box represents an identified ‘micro-suture’ between the polyps (expanded in (E) and (F)) and arrows indicate the proposed area of fusion between the two polyps. (C) BSE micrograph of fused area depicted in (A and B). No suture was identified and a likely area of fusion was enlarged in (D) for diffraction intensity analysis of aragonite crystals (crystals are the defined white areas). (D) is secondary electron (SE) micrograph of same area. (E, F) enlarged area of identified micro-suture (SE micrograph) and corresponding crystallographic orientation of aragonite respectively. Colours in (F) indicate crystal orientation. (A) permission of Solvin Zankl.
