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CT scan images showing bioerosion evident on coral skeleton sections.

CT scan images showing bioerosion evident on coral skeleton sections.
CT scan images showing bioerosion evident on coral skeleton sections.
CT scan images showing bioerosion evident on coral skeleton sections.
CT scan images showing bioerosion evident on coral skeleton sections.
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264267
DeCarlo, Thomas
CT scan images showing bioerosion evident on coral skeleton sections.
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01/12/2016
bioerosion_ct.jpg
Image Of the Day caption:
These images, which are CT scans similar to those taken at hospitals of the human body, provide a detailed look inside coral skeletons. The holes were made by bioeroders, small organisms such as mollusks and sponges that find shelter in the skeletons of living corals. Recent research by members of the Cohen Lab suggests that increased ocean acidification and nutrient concentrations act together to accelerate bioerosion rates. In order to keep pace with sea level rise, reef-building corals must produce more skeleton than is lost from bioerosion. Rapidly changing ocean chemistry threatens to tip this delicate balance.
Caption from Oceanus magazine, Vol. 51, No. 2, pg. 35:
CT scan images have a resolution of about the width of a human hair. These images show the borings made by bioeroders in the coral skeleton.
Image courtesy of Tom DeCarlo
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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