Abstract
The discovery of yellow-green fluorescent bands in the skeletons of massive corals from inshore waters of the Great Barrier Reef, and the temporal and spatial correlations of these bands with adjacent river flow1, prompted an investigation into the substances responsible for the phenomenon. We have determined that all regions of the coral skeleton contain fulvic acids2,3 which impart a blue background fluorescence. The yellow-green fluorescent bands found only in inshore coral appear to result from enhanced concentrations of low-relative molecular mass (<10,000) fulvic acids from adjacent river input. These compounds are ubiquitous, and the yellow-green banding phenomenon can be expected to occur in massive corals located near to significant river systems. In the widely distributed genus Porites4, the great age of the largest colonies1 means that extremely long, highly resolvable records of coastal runoff exist throughout tropical nearshore seas.
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Boto, K., Isdale, P. Fluorescent bands in massive corals result from terrestrial fulvic acid inputs to nearshore zone. Nature 315, 396–397 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/315396a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/315396a0
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