Courtesy of Manu San Félix / National Geographic Pristine Seas (cropped)On an expedition to the Solomon Islands, divers affiliated with National Geographic have found the world’s largest single coral colony ever recorded.
It’s longer than the largest blue whale. At 34 meters (111 feet) in length, and with a width of 32 (105) meters, it could sit corner to corner across 5 tennis courts.
Experts believe it has been growing for between 300 and 500 years.
The mammoth coral was discovered by scientists from National Geographic’s Pristine Seas Initiative, which aims to gather scientific data to inform conservation measures in places where marine life is bountiful. During an expedition to the Three Sisters island group in the Makira-Ulawa Province of Solomon Islands, they thought at first its massive shadow under the water was a shipwreck.
“At a time where we can observe every square inch of the land with satellites and drones, the ocean below the surface continues to hold mysteries like this one,” said National Geographic explorer in residence Enric Sala. “It was like finding the world’s tallest tree.”
Sala hopes the coral and its presentation—agonizingly short of being able to feature at the sixteenth annual conference of the parties to the Convention on Biodiversity, (COP16)—will nevertheless help spur future marine protection by demonstrating the breadth of underwater life that exists which we don’t yet know about.
Courtesy of Manu San Félix / National Geographic Pristine Seas (cropped)ABC News Australia spoke with expedition scientist Molly Timmers, who 20 years ago dove down to see the “Big Momma” coral in American Samoa, the largest coral thought to exist until the discovery of the Solomon Islands specimen.“While Big Momma looked like a huge scoop of ice cream plopped down on the reef, this newly discovered coral is as if the ice cream started to melt, spreading forever along the seafloor,” she said. Scientists Discover ‘World’s Largest’ Coral –the Size of 5 Tennis Courts
