{"id":36682,"date":"2026-09-12T05:19:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T09:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/?p=36682"},"modified":"2026-09-11T11:59:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T15:59:07","slug":"a-golden-coral-forest-off-costa-rica-forced-scientists-to-add-an-entirely-new-branch-to-the-tree-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/a-golden-coral-forest-off-costa-rica-forced-scientists-to-add-an-entirely-new-branch-to-the-tree-of-life\/36682\/","title":{"rendered":"A golden coral forest off Costa Rica forced scientists to add an entirely new branch to the tree of life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Scientists discovered a new coral species in the depths of the Pacific<\/a> in Costa Rica that is so surprisingly different (anatomically and genetically speaking), that obliged the scientific community to create a complete new family in the tree of life: Laurinqueidae. This amazing Laurinque elenya, created extensive golden forests at depths between 360 and 529 meters. and they tend to grow on top of rocks that are covered by millions of brittle stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A golden forest hidden in the Pacific<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The coral was found by researchers during Schmidt Ocean Institute<\/a> expeditions in 2019 and 2023. The remotely operated vehicle SuBastian<\/a> could take some amazing pictures and could collect information about specimens in Las Gemelas I and II near Isla del Coco, as well as Seamount 6 along Costa Rica\u2019s Pacific margin<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\n

Read More: Black Bear Solar added 180,000 honeybees in Virginia, but the fence protects the hives, not the other way around<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

At Las Gemelas II, large colonies created big gardens over the rocks almost completely covered by brittle stars. Even their stems and bases were mostly buried under the living mat of slender arms, leaving the yellow branches to rise above it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This tree is actually a colony of animals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

L. elenya can really look like a plant, but you know what? It is an octocoral made up of many small polyps<\/a>. It has its beautiful branches and some elongated tubular polyps that cover the colony, and if something disturbs them, they retract in small protuberances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scientists tried to check for other similar skeletal structures, but really they could not locate this one in any specific gender or existing family. This coral simply did not fit, so that is why scientists had no option but to add a new branch to the scientific family tree<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Laurinque
Laurinque elenya forms golden branching colonies above dense brittle-star beds in the deep Pacific waters of Costa Rica.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Its DNA kept giving scientists different answers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After many genetic tests, they definitely discovered that this living thing was not only anatomically different from others\u2014genetically speaking, it was too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\n

Read More: Biggest underwater living creature ever seen: 34 meters and alive since Napoleon<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

All the physical traits and genomic scale supported the creation of Laurinqueidae, with Laurinque as its only known genus and L. elenya as its only formally described species. That is why there was no way to find similarities with the Eunicellidae.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Tolkien language gave the coral its name<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The story of how the name started is actually pretty nice. It was the seafloor that shaped the name. Laurinque comes from \u201cLaurinqu\u00eb,\u201d which in Quenya means \u201cgolden tree.\u201d And then elenya means \u201cstellar\u201d or \u201cof the stars.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yes, the name can sound a bit fancy, but it really reflects and transmits pretty well what it is: the brilliant shape of the coral tree and the brittle-starts habitat where its largest gardens were found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n