Another giant from our partners Global Reef, a new giant ๐๐ช๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข sitting at a depth of 7m and measuring 6.8m x 2.8m. And a close up of its truly beautiful coral polyps. These species seem to grow very slowly, possibly making even the smallest of the giants a very old organism.
๐ชธ ๐ฃHere comes a giant all the way from ๐น๐ญ Thailand, thanks to our partnerย @global_reefย , who has been supporting us over the past few months. The area where they operate appears to harbor quite a few of these incredible creatures, and their efforts in monitoring them have been remarkable. More reports will follow in the near future.
Considering that Diploastrea heliopora corals, like the one reported by Global Reef, have a particularly slow growth rate of approximately 3.6 mm per year (D’Olivo JP, Zinke J et al., 2024), this large colony, measuring 7.2 meters in diameter, could indeed be a truly ancient coral.
