A team of scientists and filmmakers have discovered the largest coral ever documented off the coast of the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific.
The organism, which is over 100 feet (34 meters) wide and more than five meters (16 feet) tall, was initially thought to be part of a shipwreck before the team dived in to investigate and found that it was, in fact, a ‘mega coral’ larger than a blue whale.
The researchers estimate that the specimin, a type of hard coral called Pavona clavus, is around 300 hundred years old and consists of over one billion individual polyps that work together in a colony.
Encouragingly, it appears to be largely in good health, something that the team attributes to its location in deeper, cooler waters sheltered by a slope and shelf.
“You have this life pillar that’s still there,” said the expedition’s lead scientist, Molly Timmers. “It gives you this awe, this hope. Just seeing how big it is—the mega coral—and its survival in an area that wasn’t as healthy.”
The researchers and filmmakers who made the discovery are part of the National Geographic Society’s Pristine Seas team which works with local communities, Indigenous Peoples, government and partners to protect ocean habitats.
