Relationship between chlorophyll a content and protein content of invertebrate symbioses with algae or chloroplasts

Summary The chlorophyll a and protein contents of invertebrates containing autotrophic symbionts are indices of symbiont and host biomass, respectively, and the chlorophyll a content per unit protein is a good measure of symbiont: host ratio. For three different associations, the chlorophyll a content per unit protein is 0.01–0.02 g g^–1.The hydra andE. viridis were provided by M. H. Christopher and J. R. Turner. I thank Professor D. C. Smith, Dr J. B. Searle and Dr T. A. V. Rees for the valuable comments on drafts of this paper. This work was supported by research grants from S.E.R.C.