{"id":887584,"date":"2026-01-24T22:26:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T04:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/24\/hong-kong-marine-scientists-discover-2-new-coral-species-in-citys-southeastern-waters\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T22:26:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T04:26:06","slug":"hong-kong-marine-scientists-discover-2-new-coral-species-in-citys-southeastern-waters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/24\/hong-kong-marine-scientists-discover-2-new-coral-species-in-citys-southeastern-waters\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong marine scientists discover 2 new coral species in city\u2019s southeastern waters"},"content":{"rendered":"<section data-qa=\"GenericArticle-Content\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\">Researchers from Baptist University have discovered two new coral species in Hong Kong\u2019s southeastern waters, underscoring the area\u2019s biodiversity despite being close to urban territory.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\">The university revealed on Monday that a team of its marine scientists had identified two new soft coral species \u2013 previously unknown worldwide \u2013 in rocky reefs off Sung Kong Island, located about 5km (3 miles) southeast of Hong Kong Island\u2019s Shek O Beach.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\">One of them, <em data-qa=\"ContentSchemaRender-defaultRenderMapFunctions-Component\">Paraminabea inflata<\/em>, a yellow or orange coral, was the third of its kind found in Hong Kong, with the species also discovered near Zhuhai\u2019s Heizhou Island, about 17km south of Lantau Island.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\">\u201cThis underscores the high level of diversity of corals in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area,\u201d Professor Qiu Jianwen of the university\u2019s department of biology, who led the team, told the Post.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\">\u201cThere are only 11 species under the <em data-qa=\"ContentSchemaRender-defaultRenderMapFunctions-Component\">Paraminabea<\/em> genus in the world and we already have three in Hong Kong.\u201d<\/p>\n<div data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<figure data-qa=\"ArticleImage-ArticleImageContainer\">\n<div data-qa=\"ArticleImage-handleRenderImage-ImageContainer\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Paraminabea inflata, one of the two new soft coral species discovered by Baptist University marine researchers. Photo: Handout\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/01\/05\/08f7ffc4-ac55-4cf9-b525-2481c62417c1_0a8db8ac.jpg\" title=\"Paraminabea inflata, one of the two new soft coral species discovered by Baptist University marine researchers. Photo: Handout\"><\/p>\n<\/div><figcaption data-qa=\"ArticleImage-DescriptionContainer\">Paraminabea inflata, one of the two new soft coral species discovered by Baptist University marine researchers. Photo: Handout<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\">The other species, <em data-qa=\"ContentSchemaRender-defaultRenderMapFunctions-Component\">Parasphaerasclera dimorpha<\/em>, displaying a bright orange-red hue, has been found only in Hong Kong and is the first of its kind reported off the coast of China.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<p> Lawanda Redner<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/hong-kong\/health-environment\/article\/3338751\/hong-kong-marine-scientists-discover-2-new-coral-species-citys-southern-waters?utm_source=rss_feed\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers from Baptist University have discovered two new coral species in Hong Kong\u2019s southeastern waters, underscoring the area\u2019s biodiversity despite being close to urban territory. The university revealed on Monday that a team of its marine scientists had identified two new soft coral species \u2013 previously unknown worldwide \u2013 in rocky reefs off Sung Kong<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":887585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2061,3807],"tags":[15272,10539],"class_list":{"0":"post-887584","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-marine","8":"category-scientists","9":"tag-marine","10":"tag-scientists"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=887584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/887585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=887584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=887584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=887584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}