In a ground-breaking find scientists almost missed seeing a huge coral formation in Solomon Islands that they first thought was an old shipwreck. The mega-sized discovery (which is actually one big organism not a reef) sits in the Three Sisters Islands region far from the capital
The newly-found sea-creature measures 112ft by 105ft with a 16ft height – making it larger than a blue-whale and about the same size as five tennis-courts combined. Enric Sala who leads Pristine Seas project shared his excitement about this find
Finding this mega coral is like discovering the tallest tree on earth. This discovery rekindles our sense of awe and wonder about the ocean
This three-century old coral beats the size of its nearest competitor Big Momma from American Samoa. Marine scientist Molly Timmers explains that while Big Momma looks like an ice-cream scoop this new find spreads across the seafloor like melted ice-cream
The coral belongs to Pavona clavus species and has about a billion tiny polyps working together. Eric Brown a coral expert notes that despite nearby reefs showing damage from warm waters this deep-water specimen stays healthy. Peter Mumby from Queensland University points out that its location away from Pacific storm paths helped it grow so big
The find happened during last months Pristine Seas study of marine life around Solomon Islands (a country that got its freedom from Britain bout 46 years ago)