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The “golden tree” coral is Laurinque elenya, a bright-yellow deep-sea octocoral collected from seamounts off Costa Rica. Its combination of anatomical features and genomic evidence led scientists to classify it in a newly established family, Laurinqueidae—not because it looked unusual alone, but because the evidence placed it on a distinct branch of the coral family tree.
What is the golden tree coral?
Laurinque elenya is a species of gorgonian octocoral described in a peer-reviewed study published in ZooKeys on June 30, 2026. The authors also established Laurinque as a new genus and Laurinqueidae as a new family. Octocorals are marine invertebrates; gorgonians are among the forms commonly called sea fans or sea whips.
The colonies are bright yellow when alive and grow in large, irregular fans with dense lateral branches. Some branches join one another. The scientific description also notes a thin layer of coenenchyme—the tissue covering the colony’s supporting structure—with rods and spindle-shaped elements, and conspicuously elongated, tubular polyps arranged around the branches. The taxonomic paper documents the anatomical diagnosis and classification.
Where was Laurinque elenya found, and how deep does it live?
Researchers collected specimens from seamounts off the insular shelf of Isla del Coco and three geological features along Costa Rica’s Pacific margin. They used the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) SuBastian on two expeditions: the 2019 FK190106 cruise aboard R/V Falkor and the 2023 FKt230918 cruise aboard R/V Falkor (too). Collection depths in the study ranged from 360 to 529 meters.
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That depth range describes where the study’s specimens were collected; it is not a confirmed limit for the species’ full depth range. The documented sites likewise do not establish the coral’s complete geographic distribution or population size.
Why did scientists create a new coral family?
Classification at the family level depends on evidence about relationships, not simply on whether an organism looks distinctive. In this case, three standard single-gene markers gave conflicting results: mitochondrial mtMutS, mitochondrial COI, and nuclear 28S rDNA each associated the coral with a different family. Those disagreements left its placement unresolved.
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The researchers turned to broader phylogenomic analyses using ultraconserved elements and exon data. These analyses resolved Laurinque as a distinct lineage most closely related to, but outside, Eunicellidae. Considered alongside the coral’s anatomical traits, that placement supported the authors’ decision to establish Laurinqueidae.
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In other words, the finding is not that DNA showed the coral was unrelated to every other coral. The analyses identified a nearest relationship to Eunicellidae while supporting a separate family for this lineage. The authors used an integrative taxonomic approach, combining genetic and morphological evidence.
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What does the name mean?
The genus name Laurinque comes from Laurinquë, glossed as “golden tree” in Quenya; the species name elenya refers to stars. A publisher-supplied report says the vivid yellow, tree-like colonies seen among brittle stars inspired the name. That image offers naming context, not evidence that the coral has a particular ecological relationship with brittle stars.
Lead researcher Odalisca Breedy described the inspiration this way: “I saw the octocoral garden for the first time in 2019 and I was impressed by the beauty of the landscape, which inspired, later the elvish name of the taxa.” The quotation was reproduced in Pensoft Publishers’ report carried by ScienceDaily on October 8, 2026.
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What the discovery does—and does not—tell us
The study establishes a described species, its anatomical characteristics, the sampled Costa Rican seamount localities, and the evidence behind its family-level classification. It does not establish how many colonies exist, the species’ full range, or its detailed ecological role. Those questions remain open beyond what the reported collections and taxonomic analyses show.
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