Soft coral found living in Victoria Harbour points to cleaner water
Hopes that Victoria Harbour will recover from decades of land reclamation and serving as the city's sewer have received a boost after evidence emerged that coral might have colonised the seabed.
Hopes that Victoria Harbour will recover from decades of land reclamation and serving as the city's sewage disposal system have received a boost after evidence emerged that soft coral might have colonised the seabed.
Coral experts said while the species was not uncommon in local waters, they were not aware of it having been found so close to the central harbour before.
However, they said verifying the existence of a coral colony in the area could be difficult.
"It might be in an area with a strong current and past coral surveys may not have covered it," said Professor Ang Put-o of Chinese University's school of life sciences.
Most of the corals recorded in the harbour were hard corals - which have a stony skeleton - and they have been found nearer the coastline.
The soft corals were found by Diaoyu Island activists last week in what they described as a trial outing aboard their fishing vessel the Kai Fung No 2, which took protesters to the disputed islands two years ago.