IF CORALS could speak, what stories they would have to tell. It turns out that some giant deep-sea corals are more than 4000 years old, making them about the same age as the pyramids in Egypt.
The “gold coral” Gerardia and the black coral Leiopathes both grow several metres tall at depths of up to 500 metres on the Hawaiian seabed. They grow when each succeeding coral polyp secretes a thin layer of calcium carbonate onto the base of the “cups” in which they live.
Previous studies had guessed their age at a few hundred years. Now Brendan Roark,…
