A gigantic organism, measuring over 100 feet across, has been spotted in the Pacific Ocean waters off Malaulalo, in the Solomon Islands. The monster-sized animal isn’t a fish, or even a marine mammal like a whale, but Pavona clavus – a species of colonial stony coral.
While coral may not much look like an animal, it belongs to the same family of marine animals as jellyfish and sea anemones. Coral form colonies encased in a hard, stony casing that is moored to the ocean floor.
The huge coral colony identified off Malaulalo is a record-breaker – measuring 34 metres (110ft) wide, 32 metres (105ft) long and around 5.5 metres (18ft) high. That’s roughly 12 metres larger than the previous largest-known example – a colony found in American Samoa.
The coral colony was discovered by cameraman Manu San Felix, who came across it entirely by accident while exploring a shipwreck with National Geographic’s Pristine Seas expedition.
He said: “It’s amazing to see something so large and so old – about 300 years old – recovering despite such significant changes in the environment.”
Coral reefs face widespread threats, as climate change leads to ocean acidification.
Other threats include pollution, overfishing, and destructive fishing practices.
While coral in general is under threat from changing ocean conditions, Pavona clavus is listed as least concern on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List.
This particular example is clearly thriving, and was described as “excellent health” by the expedition team who discovered it. The coral is so huge that, according to National Geographic, it could be seen from space.
The discovery of the monster organism was “was really serendipitous,” says Molly Timmers, the expedition’s lead scientist.
She added: “It was found the night before we were moving to another section.”
“It’s amazing that they’ve just found this and nobody really noticed before,” says Helen Findlay, a biological oceanographer at Plymouth Marine Laboratory in the U.K., who wasn’t involved in the expedition.