Figure 3. Light and confocal images that illustrate the effects of various ‘bleaching’ treatments on coral microfragments.

Coral microfragments were treated for 3 days with one of three bleaching treatments: light, menthol, and menthol & light. Additionally, the microfragments were imaged on a confocal microscope to assess the density of symbionts. (A) Light images of coral microfragments that were ‘bleached’ using menthol, light, and menthol & light. (B) Confocal images of the same coral microfragments but at the polyp level. The merged images layer the GFP (green) and autofluorescence of the algal symbionts (red) into one image. Preliminary data show that the combination of Light & Menthol reduced the density of symbionts the most.