Fiery Red New Coral Species Discovered in Peruvian Pacific
Posted on February 3, 2014
Reseachers have discovered a new fiery red coral species, Psammogorgia hookeri, in Peru's Paracas National Reserve. Specimens were collected by scuba divers from rocky ledges at depths of 25 meters. Researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and the University of Costa Rica have named the coral for Yuri Hooker, a biologist and naturalist at the Cayetano Heredia Peruvian University in Lima, Peru.
Hector Guzman, marine biologist at STRI, said in the announcement, "This new species may be found nowhere else in the world. But coral reefs and coral communities in Peru have never been systematically studied. We expect more surprises as we look at new collections."
Odalisca Breedy is the lead author of the new species reported in the Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK. Breedy and Guzman have discovered nearly 25 new species of soft coral in the Pacific.
