Black coral has been confirmed as living in the wider Wellington region for the first time.
The protected species was located near the Kāpiti Marine Reserve surrounding Kāpiti Island by local marine conservationist Ben Knight early last year.
"We've had anecdotal evidence that there's been black coral out there for a long time so to actually go and collect the sample and get a confirmed ID is great," the Department of Conservation's Shane Geange said.
"It speaks to the value of community groups being involved in conservation, we were able to go out with their local knowledge, go and actually actually find and locate this colony."
Expert guidance from the Smithsonian Institute in the US and extensive genetic testing by NIWA confirmed the species was black coral. Samples were collected from the colonies in Kapiti and Fiordland, with permission from iwi, to compare the species.
Geange said the colony is about three metres wide and is likely to be several hundred years old.
It's the second confirmed black coral species of its kind on the west coast of the country, the only other location being in Fiordland.
While they are white in colour, the marine invertebrates are called black coral due to the colour of its skeleton, NIWA molecular biologist Jaret Bilewitch explained.
"Even though they look superficially like plants, they’re actually animals," he said.
"They have a woody core just like a plant does. It sort of forms like a branch but on top of the branch, you have living tissue like animal tissue but the branch itself is black, it's very dark colour."
The find has prompted calls for greater protection for the old and fragile species, which grows slowly.
Geange said there are "lots of different tools" at their disposal to support their ability to thrive in the future, including "anchoring closures, either voluntary or regulated", and the "expansion of marine reserve boundaries".
Any changes would require a public consultation process.
Wellington regional councillor Thomas Nash is keen to start a conversation with the multiple iwi who have ties with the area, DOC and the community.
"It's a very popular area for fishing and that's great," he said.
"We just need to make sure the the very precious seabed down there is protected as much as possible."
Greater Wellington Regional Council is proposing to add the black coral as a site of significance for indigenous coastal biodiversity in its Natural Resources Plan, which offers some protection for the species.
"I think everybody who who uses that area and who knows that there's this very special colony of black coral will want to protect it," Nash said.
Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira Pou Toa Matarau Rawiri Faulkner said Ngāti Toa want to see improvements to the wider marine environment near Kāpiti Island.
"It's part of a bigger ecosystem that we're keen to protect," he said.
He said the iwi is calling for a conversation with the council around the role of marine reserves and how best to ensure they are "achieving the purpose of protecting and enhancing biodiversity whilst still allowing iwi, mana whenua, to exercise kaitiakitanga that's appropriate to them".
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