A mother–daughter team of citizen scientists has discovered what appears to be the largest mapped coral colony by area on the Great Barrier Reef.
The discovery was made by Sophie Kalkowski-Pope and her mother, Jan Pope.
They identified a Pavona clavus formation measuring about 111 meters/364 feet by 60 meters/196 feet and covering nearly 4,000 square meters/.0015 square miles. It was found off Cairns during the Great Reef Census.
The newly mapped Pavona colony appears to be the largest documented colony of its species and the largest-known coral colony recorded on the Great Barrier Reef, based on available records and preliminary measurements.
According to Sophie Kalkowski-Pope:
“I knew right from the minute we dropped in that it was something special. When I got in the water, I’d never seen coral growing like this before. It looked like a meadow of coral. It just went on and on.”
Commenting on the find, Citizens of the Reef communications manager Harry Vincent stated:
“The coral identified through the Great Reef Census is the largest documented and mapped coral colony of its species recorded to date, based on current available records and preliminary measurements. It is also the largest-known coral colony documented on the Great Barrier Reef.
“Comparisons across different species can be complex, as morphology – height v footprint v volume – growth-form and measurement methods vary considerably. The Solomon Islands coral appears to be taller but the Pavona colony identified via the Great Reef Census has a significantly larger horizontal footprint.”
While Citizens of the Reef CEO Andy Ridley added:
“The Great Reef Census was developed to complement existing monitoring programs by gathering large-scale data. This is made possible by people already out on the water, like Sophie and Jan, and thousands of citizen-scientists around the world.”
