300-Year-Old Coral Found Off Japan

Japanese researchers say a diver found a giant coral mound that dates back about 300 years off the coast of Nagasaki.

Satoshi Nojima, an associate professor in Kyushu University’s Amakusa Marine Biological Laboratory, said the Stylocoeniella guentheri coral mound is more than 12 feet long, nearly 10 feet wide and more than 4 feet high, Mainichi Shimbun reported Thursday.

Stylocoeniella guentheri coral is found around Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan. It grows less than one-quarter inch each year.

The largest previously known specimen measured about 20 inches, the newspaper said.