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. 2016 Jun 15;6:27579. doi: 10.1038/srep27579

Figure 1. Skeleton texture and structure in Recent Acropora.

Figure 1

(a) lateral view of a branch of A. eurystoma (ZPAL H.25/118(966)) with large axial corallite (opening at tip) and smaller lateral corallites (arrow indicates region enlarged in Fig. 1b and sectioned in Fig. 2a), (b) the most striking feature of the skeleton surface of Acropora (here A. eurystoma) is its texture in the form of regular shingles which are aligned along the extensional direction of the structures they build (black arrow). Shingles cover the entire skeleton surface except of regions of the fast growth which tend to be more smooth. The shingles show incremental growth every ca. 3–4 μm (yellow arrows in enlargement), (c) incremental growth lines of shingles in thin-sectioned skeleton of Acropora muricata (ZPAL H.25/90(535B), (d,e) distal portions of coenosteal spinulae and short septal spines (d, A. cervicornis, ZPAL H.25/12(545); (e) A. eurystoma ZPAL H.25/118(966)) are relatively smooth (red arrows) in contrast to the rest of the skeleton, which exhibits the shingle structure. (f,g) extremely slender (orange arrows in g) bundles of fibers form the edge of the growing front of shingles in A. muricata, ZPAL H.25/90(535B). Fibers are aligned parallel to the surface of the skeleton.