Structure of the precious coral axis

  
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Chemistry of precious coral: Biomineraliztion
Growth rate of precious coral
Structure of the precious coral axis
Habitat temperatures presumed from the chemical analysis of the precious coral axis
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Japanese red coral’s sexual maturation
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     Precious coral employs biomineralization processes to form the axis and grows. It is well known that the axial skeleton is composed mostly of calcite, which is crystal polymorph of calcium carbonate. However, the formation process of the axial skeleton is poorly understood. Therefore, we tried to elucidate that mechanism through the structural analysis of the axis.    (Yoshimasa Urushihara of University of Hyogo)

　
Fig. 1  
Fig. 1. X-ray micro-computed tomographic (micro-CT) images of a red coral branch tip:
a) is volume rendering image.
b) is contrast-enhanced image of a).
c) is longitudinal slice image.
High resolution X-ray micro-CT was measured at BL08B2 Hyogo Prefecture Beamline in SPring-8. Sclerites scattered in the coenenchyme and polyps could be observed clearly. X-ray micro-CT gives information about the three-dimensional structural configurations at the tip, which is longitudinal-growing spot.