Corals cozy up with bacterial buddies

Corals may let certain bacteria get under its skin, according to a new study by researchers at WHOI and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. The study offers the first direct evidence that Stylophora pistillata, a species of reef-building coral found throughout the Indian and west Pacific Oceans, harbors bacterial denizens deep within its tissues.