The largest coral in the world is 300 years old and was discovered accidentally

In the southwestern Pacific Ocean, 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.

In mid-October, a team of scientists and filmmakers visited the remote location National Geographic thought the object was so large that it must be the remains of a shipwreck.

But as an underwater cinematographer Manu San Felix jumped into the water to take a closer look, he was amazed at what he saw.

“I remember very clearly just jumping and looking down, and I was surprised,” he told reporters during a briefing. Instead of a shipwreck, San Félix was on the largest coral ever discovered. “It’s huge,” he said. “The size is close to the size of a cathedral.”

The coral, located a few hundred meters off the east coast of Malaulalo Island, has been identified as the species Pavona clavus. It is 34 meters wide and 32 meters long, making it larger than a blue whale, and it is believed to be 300 years old.

The discovery was a “happy accident,” he said Enric Sala by National Geographic‘s Pristine Seas project, which aims to inspire governments to protect ocean ecosystems through exploration and research. It is by far the largest coral colony ever discovered and is easily defeated the previous record holder – a giant Porites colony found in American Samoa in 2019, with a diameter of 22.4 meters and a height of 8 meters.

Over the past two years, record-breaking ocean temperatures around the world have led to a wave of coral bleaching. But while other reefs around the Solomon Islands are showing signs of bleaching, Sala says it is huge P. clavus coral looks healthy. It’s a vital habitat for ocean life, he says, providing shelter and food for fish, shrimp, worms and crabs. “It’s like a big patch of old growth forest.”

But the coral is not immune to ecological threats, from local pollution and overfishing to global climate change. Sala says he would like to see more marine protected areas (MPAs) established to protect marine life from local pollution, alongside global action to tackle climate change. “Protecting the reef cannot make the water cooler or prevent ocean warming,” he says. “We have to solve that, we have to reduce CO2 emissions. But MPAs can help us buy time by making reefs more resilient.”