This colony of black coral is estimated to be 300–400 years old. This discovery is of practical importance because this species is endangered and grows very slowly. Knowing the locations of large colonies helps in better protecting them, especially since the main areas of distribution for black coral are the tropical regions of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, at depths ranging from 300 to 3,000 meters.
Studying this coral is complex due to the difficulty of accessing the deep sea. Radiocarbon dating has shown that many coral species can live for hundreds of years, with the oldest recorded age being 4,265 years for a Leiopathes coral colony. Coral colonies typically thicken at a rate of 4 to 35 micrometers per year. The dark color of their internal structure is due to a unique protein called non-collagenous antipathin.
This black coral is approximately 300–400 years old. Professor James Bell, a marine biologist at Victoria University of Wellington, described the specimen as "very large," saying that in his 25 years of work he had never seen specimens of this size, as black corals are usually much smaller, with specimens typically measuring two to three meters in length.
This discovery has practical importance, as the extremely slow growth rate of this endangered species makes protecting its large colonies crucial. Knowing their locations helps in protecting them, for example by restricting anchoring or fishing near them, as Professor Bell pointed out.
Richard Kinsey, senior biodiversity researcher at the Department of Conservation, said seeing a colony of this size grow in the dark waters was particularly impressive.
