Europe Underwater Fauna & Flora Gold Coral

Gold coral, or false black coral (Savalia savaglia), is a rare species found in the Mediterranean Sea and eastern Atlantic Ocean. The largest number of colonies in the Mediterranean Sea are located in the Bay of Kotor, near Sopot Spring and Dražin Vrt.This bushy coral is actually a parasite which often colonises gorgonian corals, which it engulfs by secreting its own protein skeleton, almost black in colour. It has numerous polyps, ranging in colour from pale white to predominantly golden yellow, hence the name “gold coral”.It grows very slowly, barely a few millimetres per year, and scientific analyses indicate that some colonies are around 2,700 years old, making it one of the world’s oldest living organisms.