World's largest coral is 16 feet high, 300 years old, but has only just been found

The world’s largest coral colony has been found in the Solomon Islands located in the southwest Pacific Ocean. The discovery was made by the National Geographic Society’s Pristine Seas team during an October 2024 expedition. The coral is bigger than a blue whale and can even be spotted from space. Yet, it still managed to remain hidden all these years.

The mega coral is a whopping 112 by 105 feet and sits at a depth of 42 feet. The colony is 16 feet high and is estimated to be around 300 years old. However, it could be much older.

Molly Timmers, the expedition’s lead scientist, says they found it the night before the team was to move to another section. A videographer was working to understand how climate change has affected the Pacific, and this is when he found the mega coral.

The researchers say what they have found is a coral colony that is made up of nearly a billion tiny creatures that work together like one organism.

Manu San Felix, the photographer, said that watching the coral was like seeing a "cathedral underwater".

"It's very emotional. I felt this huge respect for something that's stayed in one place and survived for hundreds of years," he said.

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Timmers said that the organism is a type of hard coral called Pavona clavus, or shoulder blade coral. This is because it has columns that “kind of looks like shoulders". It is largely brown in colour, with hints of yellows, reds, pinks, and blues.

Corals are animals

Corals are under threat due to the warming oceans and climate change. They are animals related to jellyfish and sea anemones. Thousands of coral polyps come together to form a colony and these colonies make up a reef.

The largest coral sits in much deeper waters than some coral reefs and seems to have prevented the hazards of higher temperatures at the sea surface.

The researchers say the locals might have simply assumed it to be a large rock.

Timmers said that to see such an old colony that has been around for centuries and witnessed several historical events "gives you that wow factor". “It's like our ancestors are still there in the water," she said.