One of the world’s largest sea creatures has been discovered in the blue waters of the Solomon Islands, a chain of islands in the South Pacific.
Roughly speaking, this creature, which is the size of two basketball courts, is neither a whale nor a giant squid. Just a piece of coral.
A group of researchers and filmmakers exploring the Solomon Islands on Wednesday announced they had found what they claim is the world’s largest individual coral colony. Coral, a common organism made up of millions of animals called polyps, is 34 meters wide and 32 meters long. The coral is so large that it can even be seen from space. While a typical coral reef consists of many different coral colonies, many of which are genetically distinct, this one is a solitary individual.
In new photos shared by the research team, the coral, a species known as Pavona clavus, looks like a rough brown mound covered in knobs. When you look closely, you can see yellow, green and purple pieces on it. Considering its size and the slow growth rate of corals, this single coral is likely to be several centuries old.
Underwater photographer and marine biologist Manu San Félix, who first saw the coral in the Solomon Islands last month, told Vox:Seeing such a unique thing is a dream. Imagine, this thing was here when Napoleon was alive.” he says.
San Félix discovered the coral while filming near an island called Malaulalo for an ongoing National Geographic expedition. The expedition, in collaboration with the Solomon Islands government, was part of National Geographic’s Pristine Seas project, which aims to help countries establish more marine parks, in part by documenting marine life. According to Ulawa Po’onapaina Tribe member Dennis Marita, Malaulalo is barely settled. Its waters also remain largely unexplored. The tribe that lives here controls the maritime region of Malaulalo.
Marita, who is also the culture manager at the Solomon Islands Ministry of Culture and Tourism, said at the press conference she held last Tuesday, “This is a huge thing for our community” he said.
There is no other larger coral in public record, but it is possible that larger colonies exist in remote areas of the ocean that have not yet been discovered. The previous holder of the record for the world’s largest coral was a colony in American Samoa that was approximately 22 meters wide.
“The wildlife conservation group’s marine conservation director, Stacy Jupiter, who was not involved in this expedition, told Vox.Many of the world’s coral reefs remain remote and poorly explored” he said. Jupiter stated that humans have explored only 5 percent of the planet’s marine areas.So it’s no surprise that we continue to make new discoveries, including large creatures.” he said.
“Light of hope”
The discovery comes at a time when coral reefs around the world are facing extinction.
Climate change is warming the oceans, causing the death of corals due to warming water. Coral gets its color and most of its nutrients from the symbiotic algae that live inside the polyps. When seawater becomes too warm, these algae disappear and the coral turns white or bleaches. Bleached corals are actually starving.
Coral reefs are facing the most extensive bleaching crisis on record globally. Three-quarters of the world’s coral reefs have experienced enough ocean heat to cause bleaching since the beginning of 2023, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. For this reason, many corals died.
Meanwhile, new research shows that more than 40 percent of the hard corals that make up reefs like the recently discovered colony in the Solomon Islands are at risk of extinction.
This is a problem, to say the least. Reefs reduce waves hitting coastlines during hurricanes and are home to a significant portion of the commercial fish eaten by humans. It is also the locomotive of the tourism economy in many coastal regions.
Molly Timmers, a marine ecologist and the expedition’s lead scientist, said it was not surprising, but disheartening, that the National Geographic team discovered large amounts of dead coral in the shallows of the Solomon Islands, likely due to extreme temperatures in the ocean.
In his statement to Vox, Timmers said that this discovery was a “ray of hope” in the face of the global loss of corals.Wow! This is incredible!” he said.
Large coral colonies are home to marine creatures such as crabs, snails and small fish. More importantly, when they spawn or reproduce, they seed the ocean with baby corals, helping to heal damaged sections of reefs.
Additionally, this particular coral may be resistant to stress, including extreme sea heat. The research team estimates the coral is 300 to 500 years old, meaning it has experienced and survived multiple global bleaching events. Unlike some nearshore corals, this single coral more than 10 meters deep was healthy, perhaps because it was in deeper, colder water or because it had some built-in genetic tolerance to heat. So the eggs it produces may also be resistant.
Marine ecologist Maria Beger from the University of Leeds, who was not involved in the discovery, said:Everything that’s old is really good at survival” he said.
To support marine life and counter threats such as climate change, it is more important for reefs to have a variety of coral species of all shapes and sizes, rather than a single large coral. Saying that discovering a huge coral colony is not that impressive in itself, Beger said: “If a report like this gets people excited about coral reefs, maybe that’s a good thing.“
Marita from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism told Vox that the discovery could also help the Solomon Islands protect its waters more effectively. Marita, whose tribe has unofficially maintained Malaulalo as its own for a decade, says the island will benefit from an official marine protected area recognized by the Solomon Islands government. Marita is also running a series of campaigns to make this happen.
Referring to the discovery in a statement to Vox, Marita said: “This will certainly strengthen the conservation initiative we are working on. This mega-sized coral will help provide our region with much-needed visibility and recognition from the government and other stakeholders. This is truly a win for us.”
Source: Vox and National Geographic / Translated into Turkish by Eser Şahin
