Study of compounds that influence facultative symbiosis between coral and seagrass

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In this study, we examined compounds that influence facultative symbiosis between coral Montipora digitata and seagrass Thalassa hemprichii, which can be seen near Bise on the west coast of Okinawa Island. Acropora sp.1 was used as a control. We evaluated the influence of a crude extract of seagrass T. hemprichii against coral larvae. The seagrass T. hemprichii was directly harvested in Okinawa Prefecture. A crude organic extract of this material was subjected to bioassay-guided (toxicity against coral larvae) fractionation by solvent partition, ODS-HPLC, to yield caffeic acid. Morphological changes of lavae of Acropora sp.1 were induced by exposure to 0.0018 mg/ml-0.18 mg/ml caffeic acid. On the other hand, no morphological changes of lavae of M. digitata were induced at same concentration.