Golden Pacific Coral So Strange Scientists Created a New Family for It

A bright yellow, tree-like coral found on deep-sea mountains off Costa Rica was so unlike known corals that scientists created an entirely new family for it.

Researchers discovered colonies of Laurinque elenya between 360 and 529 metres below the surface, growing on rocky outcrops covered with brittle stars. Some colonies stood more than a metre tall. The specimens came from expeditions to underwater mountains around Isla del Coco and along Costa Rica’s Pacific margin in 2019 and 2023.

Scientists used the remotely operated vehicle SuBastian to explore the seafloor and collect samples during expeditions aboard the research vessels Falkor and Falkor (too). The coral’s vivid yellow branches immediately set it apart from its surroundings, but its place in the coral family tree proved far less obvious.

Researchers first sequenced three genes commonly used to determine relationships between corals. Those genes linked the specimen to different, unrelated families. The team then examined hundreds of genes, along with the coral’s physical characteristics. That broader analysis showed that the coral formed a separate evolutionary lineage, closely related to Eunicellidae but distinct enough to warrant its own classification.

The study, published in ZooKeys, established Laurinqueidae as a new family and Laurinque as a new genus. Laurinque elenya is the first described species in the newly recognised group, adding another known branch to the life found in remote deep-ocean habitats.