Scientists surveying underwater mountains off Costa Rica have identified a remarkable new coral that is unlike any known coral family. Its genetic makeup and physical features were so distinctive that researchers created an entirely new family to classify it. The bright yellow coral, which has a branching, tree-like appearance, was discovered between 360 and 529 meters below the Pacific Ocean's surface.
The findings are reported in the open-access journal ZooKeys. Some colonies grow more than a meter tall. Researchers collected specimens using the remotely operated vehicle SuBastian during expeditions in 2019 and 2023 aboard the research vessels Falkor and Falkor (too), which are operated by the Schmidt Ocean Institute.
The expeditions explored seamounts near Isla del Coco and along Costa Rica's Pacific margin. The coral was especially abundant on rocky outcrops where brittle stars covered nearly every available surface. Against this shimmering backdrop, the bright yellow branches appeared to rise from the seafloor like glowing trees surrounded by stars.
That unusual scene helped inspire the scientific name. The new genus, Laurinque, is derived from "Laurinquë," which means "golden tree" in Quenya, the Elvish language created by J.R.R. Tolkien for The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.
Researchers selected the name because of the coral's vivid yellow color and tree-like shape. Its species name, elenya, means "stellar" or "of the stars" in Quenya. The name refers to the dense populations of brittle stars surrounding the coral colonies.
Together, the genus and species names reflect what the researchers described as an almost mystical elvish landscape on the deep ocean floor. Determining where the coral fit on the evolutionary family tree proved far more complicated than expected. Scientists initially sequenced three genes commonly used to identify and classify corals.
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