Blue octocoral unique to Sunshine Coast

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Beautiful bright blue octocorals discovered at Caloundra are unique to Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
Beautiful bright blue octocorals discovered at Caloundra are unique to Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

Vibrant blue octocorals found in the intertidal pools at Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast are a completely new species of cnidarian, scientists have found.

Cnidarian are a group of marine animals of more than 9000 living species including corals, jellyfish, sea anemones and octocorals among others.

“This particular Sunshine Coast octocoral was previously known as Sansibia, but upon further examination, we found it to be a new species,” researcher Merrick Ekins said.

“I decided to name this species ‘opalia’ as the colour resembles the inner fire you see in opals and it’s so beautiful.”

Dr Ekins made the discovery in collaboration with the Tel Aviv University in Israel, the Harvey Mudd College in the US, and Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands.

Visitors to Sunshine Coast beaches would have seen the octocorals without realising their special status, Queensland Museum Network CEO Jim Thompson said.

“I am sure many residents of the Sunshine Coast have seen these beautiful octocorals while exploring the intertidal pools at the beach, not knowing they were unique to this part of the world,” he said. 

The discovery of the new species – along with another new species of octocoral Dr Ekins collected from Ningaloo named ‘ningalooensis’ after the famous fringing reef in WA – was recently published in the scientific journal Zootaxa.

Together the two new species make up a new genus Latissimia.

AAP