Coral is comprised of tiny individual creatures called polyps, which form a connected hardened shell when living en masse in a colony. The average polyp grows to about a quarter of an inch.

"Just when we think there is nothing left to discover on planet Earth, we find a massive coral made of nearly one billion little polyps, pulsing with life and color," marine ecologist Enric Sala said.

The polyps that form the giant coral came from larvae that settled on the seafloor then multiplied over the centuries. An aerial view of the world’s largest coral colony in the Solomon Islands.

"Just when we think there is nothing left to discover on planet earth, we find a massive coral made of nearly one billion little polyps, pulsing with life and colour," marine ecologist Enric Sala ...