They thought they were visiting a wreck and discovered a giant living organism over 300 years old!

Some 34 meters long and 32 meters wide. What scientists said looked like a wreck from the surface is, in fact, the world's largest coral.

Last month, a team from National Geographic on an expedition to the Solomon Islands discovered by chance the largest coralcoral of the world, crushing the previous record, three times smaller than this one. To measure the age of a coral, researchers generally use its size. This is how they estimated the size of the coral colony of thespeciesspecies Peacock nail about 300 years old.

Good news for corals

According to scientists, this coral is healthy, unlike other corals in the area. “ When they visited a nearby reef, the expedition members found that many of the corals had already died “, explain National Geographic.

The discovery of a colony still healthy after all these years offers hope that some corals will be resilient enough to survive the climate crisis. “ We have this pillar of life which is always thereexplains for National Geographic Molly Timmers, scientific leader of the expedition, cit inspires admiration and hope just seeing its size and ability to survive in an area that is not as healthy ».

The threat to corals globally is growing. Very recently, theIUCNIUCNthe International Union for Conservation of Nature, reported that more than half of tropical coral species are threatened with extinction due to global warming. In 2008, “only” a third of these corals were threatened.