Surprise! I’m a coral addict!!
我希望我不会热情地对珊瑚的热情来做，但它将获得一个整体的'fangirl水平colymia lacera。
If you’re like me, every time you get it the water, scuba diving comes with a wish list of corals (or fish) you want to see. In the Caribbean, my list includes the corals I have yet to find, outstanding colonies, and always a big boldScolymiawritten at the top.
有两种Scolymiain the Caribbean, the smallerScolymia cubensiswhich we wrote about last week, and the big momma of all Caribbean corals,Scolymia lacera.Now, not all corals are created equal and sure all corals are beautiful, but there will always be that one extraordinary specimen that shines brighter than the rest.
Scolymiacorals are the pinnacle, and a big reason I still get excited about Caribbean diving. You can never predict the endless combinations of colors, patterns, or stripes. If there was ever a definition of a diamond in the rough, this is it.
我会承认，封面图像可能反映了我对这个珊瑚在欣赏的美感中的真实的艺术解释，但是在您看到下面的真实版本之后，我认为您会同意这是不远的。我们发现了完美的珊瑚Scolymiahabitat while diving inTela Honduras，在一个模糊的粉质礁石上深处18m（60英尺）。
珊瑚色
珊瑚通过两种方式获得颜色。珊瑚在其细胞内部有光合海洋藻类，可将阳光转化为珊瑚的能量。您在正常日光下在珊瑚中看到的褐色绿色来自这些藻类，称为Zooxanthellae。当珊瑚被漂白时，它们会变成白色，因为它们会驱逐Zooxanthellae。
但是，还有蓝色，绿色，紫色和红色。一些珊瑚是可以预见的，Acropora cervicorniswill always be yellow, gold, or golden yellow.芥末山coral is usually a solid yellow, but sometimes it can be slightly green, or pink, or gray. But notScolymia, nope this coral took a dose of psychedelics and never looked back.
The bright colors inScolymia(and all corals) come from a family ofNobel prize-winningfluorescent proteins. Without使您对科学的压倒，简短的答案是，珊瑚组织中有一种蛋白质色素，可吸收一种颜色的光，并以不同颜色的光重新发出光。这些颜料在白光，日光和蓝光下看起来不同，并使珊瑚具有鲜艳的色彩。
Diving Deeper Into Coral Color
您潜水越深，出现的蓝色珊瑚就会越多。任何比几米更深的距离和更长的波长光在水柱中迅速吸收。如果您带有手电筒或为相机带有外部LED或频闪灯，则可以将这些颜色（尤其是红色）带回环境。
当您用外部光照亮珊瑚内的蛋白质会重新发出颜色。仅使用白光，您将开始看到更明亮的红色，绿色，紫色和粉红色。某些光被吸收到蛋白质中，而我们看到的颜色是被反射或重新喷射的。
如果您想看到明亮的霓虹色，例如封面图像，则可以。您需要做的就是用蓝色或紫外线潜水。如果您曾经尝试过荧光之夜潜水，您会知道我在说什么！
Under blue light, the protein re-emits a fluorescent pigment as biofluorescence that glows a bright neon color. This color is invisible under normal light conditions and you can only see it when you excite the pigments using shorter wavelengths of light such as blue or ultraviolet.
Biofluorescence should not be confused with bioluminescent, or phosphorescence. You can learn more about bioluminescence and fluorescence on theLuminescence Lab website.
肉质圆盘珊瑚
The common name forScolymia lacerais the Fleshy Disk Coral, and for good reason. Mature colonies ofScolymia laceracan be up to 15cm (6 inch) in diameter making it the biggest single polyp species in the Caribbean.
圆盘珊瑚具有肉质的地幔，珊瑚中心的嘴巴。您可能会认为这是一种柔软的珊瑚，但是在肉质的息肉下是坚硬的钙骨架。
The best way to tell the twoScolymiaspecies apart is size, however, for smaller colonies, this can be tricky. Instead, you should look for the lines of skeletal teeth radiating from the center of the polyp towards the edge of the coral.
如果您喜欢这篇文章，请分享您的朋友并查看我们其余的加勒比海珊瑚Identificationarticles.
The珊瑚Diaries系列是我们在世界各地潜水时看到的珊瑚清单。我们创建了这个系列，以便您可以了解有关珊瑚的更多信息，以及如何在礁石上识别它们。我们鼓励您向我们发送珊瑚图片，并在下面的部分发表评论，以了解有关您在潜水时发现的有趣物种的更多信息。
