Blog Post Image: Corals cozy up with bacterial buddies

KAUST-based coral scientist Christian Voolstra gathered samples of the coral species Stylophora pistillata. Earlier sampling methods ground up and mixed together the coral’s surface, tissue, and skeletal layers to obtain genetic information, making it impossible to tell where exactly the genetic information came from. This time, Voolstra and the researchers used a microscopy-based technique and were able to determine that Endozoicomonas lives within the tissue layer. (Photo by Michael Berumen, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)