Image of the Week - 16 September 2008

MicroCT scan images from the skeleton of the tropical coral Montastrea annularis collected from Curacao, Netherlands Antilles. The skeleton is composed of CaCO3 (aragonite) and exhibits both high-density and low-density banding that reflect the integrated response of the coral organism to annual changes in sea surface temperature. The image set was collected using the ITG Skyscan 1172 MicroCT unit. The top image shows one MicroCT scan image from the 360 degree image set collected. The middle image shows a single slice of the z-stack reconstructed from these scan images. The bottom image shows a 3D analysis view of the entire dataset after reconstruction, visualized in Amira software.