World’s largest coral is 300 years old and was discovered by accident
Measuring the massive coral Inigo San Felix/National Geographic Society In the south-west Pacific, off the coast of one of the tropical Solomon Islands, a giant structure beneath the water’s surface has just been identified as the world’s largest known coral. Visiting the remote site in mid-October, a team of scientists and film-makers from National Geographic thought the object was so large, it must be the remains of a shipwreck. But when underwater cinematographer Manu San Félix jumped into the water to take a closer look, he was astonished by what he saw. “I remember perfectly just jumping and looking down, and I was surprised,” he told reporters during a briefing. Instead of a shipwreck, San Félix had stumbled upon the largest coral ever discovered. “It is enormous,” he said. “The size is close to the size of a cathedral.” The coral, which lies a few hundred metres off the eastern coast of Malaulalo Island, has been identified as the species Pavona clavus. It measures 34 metres wide by 32 metres long, making it larger than …
