New Species of Coral

A new species of black coral was recently identified 40 miles off the coast of Los Angeles.

Milton Love of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Mary Yoklavich from NOAA Fisheries made the discovery during dives in the submersible called Delta.  The coral apparently lives at depths of 300 to 725 feet.

Love named the new species "Christmas Tree Coral" (dendochristos in Greek), since it grows to a height greater than six feet and resembles pink, white and red Christmas trees.

"What is really remarkable," Yoklavich said, "is that these spectacular large colonies have managed to go unnoticed while living in the backyard of the largest urban area on the West Coast."

The complete scientific name of the new coral is Antipathes dendrochristos.  Black coral amulets were once believed to protect their wearers from disease and evil spirits - hence the genus name: "anti" for against, and "pathos" for disease.

The finding was reported in the online scientific journal Zootaxa.

-- LiveScience Staff

Credit: Mark Amend