๐๐ป๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ผ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ชธ
We found this massive Porites โ 23.5 meters around โ during a recent exploration in the central-northย Maldives (Goidhoo). Sitting just 5.5m deep, itโs a living fortress of resilience. The coral has also been reconstructed through SfM photogrammetry and morphological metrics been extracted.
And guess what? This wasnโt the only one.
๐ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐๐ค๐ฅ๐ค๐ง๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ต๐ผ๐๐๐ฒ-๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ณ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ ๐๐ผ๐ฑ๐ต๐ถ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐, ๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐
A very large ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข was located in the lagoon of the resort in the Maldives. The colony was measured by the team of marine biologists and was recorded to have a perimeter of 94 meters and a length of 28 meters. During surveys, a Hawksbill Turtle was observed around the colony using the soft polyps of the ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข sp. as a resting spot. Kudos to Chiara Fumagalli, Andrea Omati, and Marco Fornaciariย for their efforts in reporting giant corals to Map the Giants. How many wonderful surprises the Maldivian reefs are offering us!
Imagine finding yourself in the heart of sandy a lagoon. You jump in the water, let the bubbles vanish, look down, and realise how incredible the colony underneath you is. An incredible ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ฃ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ข sp., 11m across, 35m in perimeter, and 6 meters tall. Imagine focusing on its details, on its artistic twirls, on the millions of single polyps working in harmony to make it a Giant. This is the coral that Map the Giants team discovered in Faafu Atoll. How many of them are there? Where are they? And can we afford to lose them before we even know they were here?
A huge news. Map the Giants continues to uncover unique, invaluable coral colonies through the help of citizen scientists.
Amid this global coral reef crisis, it is heartwarming to still discover giant coral colonies in our ocean. Map the Giants is once again proving that Nature can truly be incredible and that it is our mission to protect organisms as special as these.
They are our beacon of hope for our planetโs future. This very large coral colony was only included in one of the three size classes we use to group our giants, the “10-20 m” group. The large size of this colony sitting on the side of a kandu is clearly visible from the diver in front of it.
A huge news. Map the Giants continues to uncover unique, invaluable coral colonies through the help of citizen scientists.
Amid this global coral reef crisis, it is heartwarming to still discover giant coral colonies in our ocean. Map the Giants is once again proving that Nature can truly be incredible and that it is our mission to protect organisms as special as these.
They are our beacon of hope for our planetโs future. This huge colony from the South of the Maldives it has only been visually estimated over 10m in length.
A large ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข sp. from Baa Atoll thanks to Coco Cares and the marine team at Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu . The colony, columnar in growth form, extends for 6.9m in its longest side. In the photo, marine intern @bea_crostella_bea is freediving next to this giant.
๐ชธ A deeper giant from the Maldives ๐ฒ๐ป
Many of the giants we have reported so far were found in the shallower portion of the reefs, this ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ด sp. was found at 22m of depth in Faafu Atoll, in the Maldives. Although it is not particularly extended in height, possibly because of its location in a channel hit by very strong currents, it measures 14.6 m in perimeter and 6.4 in its longest dimension, and it is almost fully alive!
Who said sandy lagoons are lifeless? ๐๐ We stumbled upon this giant Pavona sp. coralโ54 meters in perimeter!โin a spot with barely any coral cover. Even in murky waters, nature finds a way! While part of it showed some damage, the rest of the colony looked impressively healthy. Proof that the ocean is full of surprises! ๐
