We are one of the very few labs in the world that spawn Aiptasia! Aiptasia is a sea anemone routinely used to understand coral biology. They are very closely related to corals and much easier to grow, and corals and Aiptasia both spawn to release eggs and sperm into the water. The eggs get fertilized and turn into tiny little swimming larvae. With proper nutrients and conditions, these larvae can then undergo metamorphosis to become an adult polyp! Aiptasia and corals have algae symbionts, it's what gives them their color and what is lost during bleaching! But what is cool is that most species of corals and anemones make baby larvae without symbionts, so the larvae have to find their symbionts in the seawater. This phenomenon of having to find your symbiont with every new generation is super interesting and allows us to use the larvae to understand how they recognise and take up their right symbiont in an ocean full of other microbes.
#anemone #marinebiology #coralresearch #symbiosis #microscopy
We have some new pets in the lab! This is the upside down jellyfish Cassiopea. They are typically found in warm shallow waters and point their arms towards the sun because they contain dinoflagellate algae symbionts that perform photosynthesis. So cute and a great addition to our symbiosis lab!
#marinebiology #symbiosis #jellyfish #cassiopea
My office pet, Fred, basking in the afternoon sun. Fred is very special to me. He was the first Aiptasia anemone that I successfully had settle and undergo metamorphosis from larvae to polyp. He has since cloned himself, so now I keep 3 Fred's in my office. Also pictured are some coral skeletons. 🪸
.
.
#marinebiologist #coral #anemone #aiptasia #coralresearch
#biologist
Sometimes the anemones are so pretty 😍
We mostly use the sea anemone called Aiptasia for our research. They are a great model to understand corals because they are easy to grow, are closely related to corals, and form symbiosis with the same type of algae that corals do. The symbionts are what give them their brown color! What we learn from Aiptasia we then can go test on corals in our fieldwork.
.
One of @sara_papolas babies from this week. 🪸
.
#marinebiology #coralresearch #aiptasia #scientist #biologist #marinebiologist #anemone
Did you know corals can sexually reproduce to generate little larvae that can swim? These Acropora coral larvae are about 1mm long and look like tiny submarines swimming around, trying to find the perfect place to settle and undergo metamorphosis to become a coral. They are super cute to watch, and are useful for coral research because of their small size and they don’t yet have the hard skeleton of an adult coral. Many corals, like this species, produce larvae that do not yet contain symbionts, algae that live inside the coral and do photosynthesis to give nutrients to the coral. These larvae instead find these symbionts in the water, therefore forming the symbiosis new with every generation. We use this as an advantage, to study how the coral selects for the right type of symbiont so we can hopefully apply our knowledge to help save coral reefs from bleaching and destruction.
#marinebiology #coralresearch #microscopy #symbiosis #scientist
At this time last year I was in Okinawa Japan staying up at night to watch corals spawn. This is what it looks like closeup! You can see that the coral actually is made of many polyps, little mouths with tentacles, that are all clones of each other that form the interesting shapes we associate with corals. Not only can they feed through these mouths but this is also where they spit out their eggs and sperm when it's time to spawn! Spawning typically only happens once a year, so this is a special treat to see in real life! 🪸
You may also notice all these brown dots inside the tissue. These are actually algae symbionts that live inside the coral! The algae undergo photosynthesis and give nutrients to the coral. When corals bleach they lose their symbionts and you see the white skeleton underneath. Sadly without their symbionts the corals can starve to death, but they can take them back up from the water before this happens. For my science I try to understand how the corals immune system regulates this symbiosis. 👩🔬🔬
Video is sped up 8X. Imagine a bunch of scientists watch this in slow motion, taking bets on which polyp would spit out it's eggs first 🤓
#marinebiology #marinebiologist #scientist #coralresearch #biologist #microscopy #coral #coralspawn #symbiosis
Always a pleasure presenting to such a diverse and fun community of scientists! Thanks to EMBL Heidelberg and all the organizers of the Wild Frontiers of Model Organisms for giving me the opportunity to talk about my research to understand immune control of symbiosis in corals and sea anemones. 🪸
.
.
#coralresearch #marinebiology #scientist #seaanemone #aiptasia #marinebiologist #eeswildmodels #embl
My first Bachelor's student here at the LMU successfully defended his thesis yesterday, and gave me this lovely ethanol lamp as a gift 🎁 he also engraved it himself with the lifecycle of the sea anemones that we work with! Such a nice gift from such an amazing student. Good luck on your future endeavors!
.
#scientist #marinebiologist #coralresearch #aiptasia #anemone #biology #academia
A question we often get is how do you feed the anemones? We feed them Artemia, aka brine shrimp or sea monkeys, which are small shrimps that are convenient because you can store their eggs in the fridge. When you need some you just add some water and oxygen and proof! The next day you have many tiny swimming critters that are perfect food for our sea anemones 🪸
#marinebiology #marinebiologist #scientist #biologist #coralresearch #microscopy #anemone #artemia #seamonkey #brineshrimp
Sometimes I sing to the lab pets 😅
Noticed though that some anemones in the fish tank look bleached after the holidays 🤔 check on your symbionts people!
.
.
#anemone #anemonefish #clownfish #fishtank #coralaquarium #scientist #marinebiologist #coralresearch
A very festive Aiptasia anemone polyp is here to spread some holiday cheer! I love how these cuties fluoresce green and red under the microscope 🔬 the anemone has green fluorescence and the tiny symbiotic algae that live inside fluoresce red! The perfect Xmas combination. 💚♥️
.
.
.
#marinebiology #marinebiologist #biologist #scientist #coralresearch #coral #symbiosis #microscopy #aiptasia #anemone #science
