Overview
- Deltocyathus zoemetallicus is formally described in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society (2025; doi: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaf146).
- The millimetre-scale coral lives on manganese nodules at roughly 4,115–4,700 meters in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone between Hawaii and Mexico.
- The species represents the first documented case of a deep-sea stony coral growing directly on manganese nodules.
- The coral survives in total darkness without symbiotic algae, feeds on suspended particles, and occurs near or below the carbonate dissolution horizon.
- Manganese nodules accrue only millimeters per million years and are targeted for battery metals, so removing them would destroy the habitat and could cause extinction.