In red yeast rice, the purple hyphae of the Monascus purpureus fungus draw nutrients from the compact and tightly packed starch granules and degrade them making them porous and loose. In cross sections, the rice grains appear purple from the dense hyphae except for a small whitish area in the grain centre (shown). The fungus produces fine monacolin statin crystals on the surface of the rice grains. Enhanced SEM. Image width: 65 micrometers. Magnification: 1538x if theimage is printed 10 cm wide. Bar: 10 micrometers.