Corals, anti-ultraviolet shields in reefs

2010/01/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Biokimika
• Botanika
• Zoologia

Some biologists from the Queensland University of Australia have seen that coral reefs have the same function as solar creams, that is, they absorb the ultraviolet rays of the Sun, protecting themselves and the living beings of these ecosystems.

They knew that the exoskeleton of the corals emits fluorescent light by submitting it to ultraviolet light. From there, it was thought that these exoskeletons could protect themselves from the harmful effect of ultraviolet rays.

In an experiment, anemones were placed that were dedicated to symbiosis with the corals, both on the corals and on a white surface that clearly reflected what the corals reflect. Well, they observed that those on the corals received four times less ultraviolet rays and that their DNA suffered seven times less damage than those on the reflective surface. As they have explained, this protection is due to calcium carbonate of the exoskeleton, which absorbs ultraviolet rays and emits rays of a much longer wavelength, that is, fluorescent light.