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Staghorn survivors: the world’s most successful coral?
Join Museum palaeontologist Dr Ken Johnson to discover how Britain’s fossil record reveals surprising clues about the past and future of today’s coral reefs.
Tropical corals once dotted the coast of southern England. Some of the earliest evidence of the staghorn coral, Acropora, was found on a beach on the Isle of Wight. Today, this is one of the most abundant corals in the world.
Despite having survived for at least 40 million years, human-caused environmental changes are now devastating this group of corals. Studying the fossil record is providing insights into the far-reaching impacts this could have for reefs worldwide.
