Appointments and news
10/17/2011
Luminous coral
In Sicily, at a depth of about 270 metres, a black coral has been found that lights up when stimulated by physical contact. This special coral is called Savalia lucifera and to date, this species had been found only in the Pacific Ocean at a depth of about 700m. This very rare species belongs to the order Zoantharia and had never been found in the Mediterranean. The discovery was made by researchers of Ispra and by a group of Italian universities: the Marche Polytechnic University, the Parthenope University of Naples and the Universities of Pisa and Bologna. For this research, Ispra utilised a very particular robot, specialised in marine research.
