Gelatinous Siphon Sheath Templates the Starfruit-Shaped Aragonite Aggregate Growth

Figure 5

SEM images of the tip of the SFAA: (a) an SFAA and other aragonite aggregates covered by ACC (indicated by black arrows); (b) detailed view of the boxed area in (a) shows that the SFAA was formed by oriented, adhered nanoparticles (black arrows indicate the ladder-like adhesion); (c) vertical view of an immature SFAA shows its hexagonal structure; (d) enlarged view of the boxed area in (c) shows hexagonal aragonite tablets stacking one by one along the long axis of an SFAA.

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