您是否曾经注意到您的珊瑚被粘液覆盖，并想知道粘液怎么了？新的研究表明，珊瑚选择性地去除和促进了生活在珊瑚粘液中的多种皮克省（浮游细菌和古细菌）群落的生长，并且粘液对周围水域中的微生物有影响。
When corals are stressed, they often secrete large quantities of mucus which can be unsightly or worrisome in your tank. However, under normal condition, corals secrete a thin layer of mucus which protects the coral and support an active community of microbes.
在一个新颖的实验室观察中，伍兹霍尔海洋学机构（WHOI），百慕大海洋科学研究所（BIOS）和加利福尼亚大学圣塔芭芭拉（UCSB）的研究人员发现，珊瑚在特定类型的细菌中有选择地喂养the coral, including coral mucus and it’s associated bacteria, selectively removes and promotes the growth of picoplankton.
“We’ve known that marine microbes play major roles in moving nutrients and recycling matter into forms that are more usable to the corals,” says WHOI microbiologist Amy Apprill, one of the authors of the paper published Oct. 12, 2016, in the杂志Limnology and Oceanography.“但是这项研究首次证明了珊瑚对周围微生物的生产有一定的控制权，而珊瑚正在使用它来使自己的生长受益。”
Coral mucus supports the growth of nutrient-rich, fast-growing copiotrophic-type cells, which the coral in turn feed upon. Corals also release nutrients that promote the growth of these bacteria.
为了更好地了解珊瑚和珊瑚粘液如何与周围礁水域中的微生物相互作用，Applill和她的同事Sean McNally和Bios的Rachel Parsons使用珊瑚的殖民地建立了基于水族箱的实验porites astreoides从三个百慕大珊瑚礁获得。
“When we put the corals in 30L tanks, the microbes in the sea water were drastically reduced in numbers,” Apprill says. “We observed that the corals were selectively feeding on several types of bacteria—Rhodobacteraceae,Synechococcus和SAR11，它们是海洋中最丰富的细菌。然后，我们将珊瑚从海水箱中取出，并观察到这些微生物的大幅增加。”
Acridill说：“不仅仅是导致水中的微生物变得更加活跃的粘液。”“这实际上是珊瑚正在释放的东西，这仍然是一组未定义的化合物。”
“这项研究表明,珊瑚事实上的影响力the picoplankton community by selecting specific lineages of picoplankton for removal and also by potentially using the complex carbon compounds excreted by the coral to promote the growth of these lineages,” adds Rachel Parsons, a microbial oceanographer at BIOS and coauthor of the paper.
