Overview
- The species is formally described in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, marking a newly recognized deep-sea habitat specialization.
- Researchers collected coral specimens and manganese nodules during multiple expeditions aboard two research vessels.
- The coral lacks symbiotic algae, feeds on drifting particles, and some samples came from depths where calcium carbonate begins to dissolve.
- Scientists warn that removing nodules for mining could eliminate the species because its exclusive substrate would vanish.
- Findings place the coral in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone between Hawaii and Mexico at depths greater than 4,000 meters, an area rich in slow-growing, metal-laden nodules.