Large coral found in large coral reef
Researchers have discovered a giant coral more than ten meters wide in the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia. It is said to be 400 years old.
Scientists swim on the “face brother” coral near Koolpudi.
Photo: Woody Spark (Keystone)
Researchers have discovered a giant coral more than ten meters wide in the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia. According to the journal “Scientific Reports”, this is the widest coral ever recorded. At 5.3 meters high, it is the sixth measured coral of the entire rock – and several hundred years old.
Adam Smith’s team at James Cook University in Douglas said the hard coral near Orpheus Island belongs to the Borritz group, whose surface is 30 percent covered with sponges and algae.
The growth of borite corals largely depends on the sea surface temperature. In collaboration with the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences (AIMS), the researchers calculated an annual increase of 1.21 cm in height for the giant coral. At 5.3 meters tall, the result was 438 years old. “This was long before Australia’s European exploration and colonization,” the researchers write. AIMS determined the age of 328 colonies of massive borite corals and the maximum age at 436 years. The coral found is one of the oldest on the Great Barrier Reef.
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