golden tree coral

New coral family named for Tolkien tree traced through genetic analysis

A brilliant yellow coral discovered off Costa Rica's deep seafloor proved so genetically distinct that scientists created an entirely new family to classify it. Named *Laurinque elenya*, Tolkien's "golden tree of the stars", these meter-tall colonies rise among brittle stars, a living metaphor for how much remains hidden in our ocean. This discovery underscores why empirical data, like the decade of reef observations explored in "A decade of empirical data illuminates the ocean's hidden reef ecosystems," remains essential. Understanding drives protection.