New species of corals found in the Sansha Sea are the smallest known diameter corals in the world

The picture shows the new species of coral found in the Sansha Sea

"It was a real surprise finding. The identification results show that the corals we collected in the Sansha Sea in 2013 are a new coral species. On the afternoon of the 27th, Chen Hong, director of the Hainan South China Sea Tropical Marine Life and Disease Research Institute, happily told reporters about this remarkable discovery.

It is understood that the Hainan South China Sea Tropical Marine Biology and Disease Research Institute undertook the implementation of the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" Hainan Province major science and technology project sub-project "Sansha Coral Reef Ecosystem Monitoring and Conservation Technology Integration Application and Demonstration", in 2013 in the Sansha sea area collected a peculiar coral specimen, after nearly 2 years of research and identification, confirmed that this is a new coral species.

"The structure of this coral is wonderful, it has no coral partition, and the diameter of the coral cup is very small." Chen Hong's observation of substructure magnified by more than 8,000 times in the laboratory found that the diameter of the coral cup of this species is only about 4.7 microns, which is the smallest diameter of the currently known coral species. This means that the diameter of its hydra body does not exceed 4.7 microns. It is reported that the diameter of coral eggs known in the world is about 40 microns or more, so what is the egg diameter of this newly discovered coral? What is the diameter of the sperm? Will they reproduce sexually? A series of mysteries are still waiting for experts to unravel.

Referring to the international taxonomy of coral species, Chen Hong named the species "Ultra-microporous hot sea coral". In the taxonomic status of coral species, a new order is established for it, which is different from the stone coral order of the hexagonal coral suborder, which belongs to the octagonal coral suborder, juxtaposed with the order phyllaceae, gorgonian coral, etc.

It is understood that this species has a reef-building function and has special significance in the suborder Octagonal Coral, where reef-building species are rare. This species is also the first discovery by experts in the field of corals in China since the last discovery of this new species in the Xisha Sea in 1984.

"Introduction to Red Coral Authenticity and Collection" by Teacher Shan Feng

Shan Feng: Professional red coral collection identification expert

Teach everyone how to buy good corals and learn about the latest coral industry information

Please add a single teacher's official WeChat: shanhu134 (long press to copy WeChat directly to find and add)