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NEW CORAL SPECIES DISCOVERED IN GALAPAGOS

A nudibranch lying on a reef in the Galapagos. | PR.

Three new species of coral, plus a fourth which was believed extinct, have been discovered in an area of reef near the Galapagos Islands. The finding raises the optimism of the scientists on the resistance of these organisms to the temperature rise in the oceans.

Coral hive (Gardineroseris planulata) was believed extinct since the last El Niño occurred in the late nineties.. However, this new research conducted by scientists from the universities of Southampton and Miami in the wild in northwestern Ecuadorian archipelago have revealed several colonies. New corals are Hydrozoanthus gender, and Antipathozoanthus Parazoanthus.

Rising temperatures caused by global warming and El Nino has ended with several areas of corals by causing a process known as bleaching, by which the disappearance of algae necessary for its formation and growth leads to death of corals .

In 1983 El Niño ended with 95% of the corals of the Galapagos and caused serious disruptions in the marine ecosystem. In 1997-98 ocean warming caused a second round of bleaching. Many scientists have warned of CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere that could cause the extinction of corals in a few decades.

The authors of the investigation said it appeared that the algae She might be adapting to warmer ocean temperatures. Water in the Galapagos is between 23 and 29 degrees in normal years but may rise to 30 in the years of The World Niño.

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