{"id":69621,"date":"2026-11-10T20:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T20:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cp.snarskis.lt\/index.php\/2026\/11\/10\/mokslininkai-indijos-vandenyne-aptiko-beveik-16-km-korala-gal-tai-vienas-organizmas\/"},"modified":"2026-11-10T20:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T20:06:11","slug":"mokslininkai-indijos-vandenyne-aptiko-beveik-16-km-korala-gal-tai-vienas-organizmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cp.snarskis.lt\/index.php\/2026\/11\/10\/mokslininkai-indijos-vandenyne-aptiko-beveik-16-km-korala-gal-tai-vienas-organizmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Mokslininkai Indijos vandenyne aptiko beveik 1,6 km koral\u0105 \u2013 gal tai vienas organizmas"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A part of the coral structure. Photo: Justin Gilligan \/ Queensland Museum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dive after dive, marine researcher JP Hobbs followed an enormous expanse of coral along the underwater slopes of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean. Each time he ran out of air before reaching its end, he marked his position and returned to continue mapping.<\/p>\n

After 12 dives, the team had traced a formation extending 1.56 kilometers (0.97 miles) \u2014 roughly the length of 100 buses parked end to end.<\/p>\n

It is one of the largest coral formations ever documented. But there\u2019s an even stranger question: could all of it be one living organism?<\/p>\n

The big boy coral<\/h2>\n

The formation consists of rose coral (Pachyseris<\/em>), a genus known for its distinctive layered, ridged structures. It stretches across depths ranging from 14 to 65 meters (46 to 213 feet).<\/p>\n

According to the Queensland Museum\u2019s announcement<\/a>, the formation averages 36.5 meters (120 feet) wide and covers approximately 56,940 square meters \u2014 nearly 5.7 hectares, or about eight soccer fields.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s just what was mapped, it might extend even farther. Researchers identified additional sections another 200 to 300 meters beyond the main formation.<\/p>\n

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Photo: Justin Gilligan \/ Queensland Museum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The coral wasn\u2019t exactly a new find. Local dive operator Dieter Gerhard first noticed extensive stretches of it more than 30 years ago. But nobody had established just how far they reached.<\/p>\n

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Hobbs, from Adelaide University, worked with scientists from Queensland Museum and James Cook University to map the formation over several months. He used GPS to track his progress between dives.<\/p>\n

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