protists that reside within the cells of corals
These unicellular algal protists commonly reside in the endoderm of tropical cnidarians such as corals, sea anemones, and jellyfish, where the products of their photosynthetic processing are exchanged in the host for inorganic molecules.ymbiodinium are colloquially called  zooxanthellae  (or  zoox ), and animals symbiotic with algae in this genus are said to be zooxanthellate.