London: Glowing coral that displays a surprising array of colours has been discovered in the deep water reefs of the Red Sea, says a new study by Israeli researchers. Encountering such a rainbow of coral colours in deep waters was unexpected, since their shallow-water counterparts in the same reef contain only green fluorescent pigments.

"To our surprise, a number of corals showing an intense green or orange glow. This could only be due to the presence of fluorescent pigments," Eyal said. "These fluorescent pigments are proteins. When they are illuminated with blue or ultraviolet light, they give back light of longer wavelengths, such as reds or greens," said Jorg Wiedenmann, professor at the University of Southampton.