Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is more resilient to climate change and better able to regenerate itself than previously thought, scientists have said.

A new study has revealed a collection of 100 individual reefs spread throughout the 2,000 mile-long marine ecosystem that not only withstand warming seas and attacking starfish but also protect others.

Although only constituting around three per cent of the whole Great Barrier Reef, the newly discovered coral formations are being likened to the “cardiovascular system” of the World Heritage Site.

Above average ocean temperatures have caused unprecedented “bleaching” in recent years, where coral expels the algae that gives it colour and provides most of its energy.

The Great Barrier Reef has also suffered widespread outbreaks of coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish.

However, the new research by the University of Queensland found a collection of reefs lying in cooler areas able to supply their larvae - fertilised eggs - to other reefs via ocean currents.

Published in the journal PLOS Biology, it estimates the 100 reefs are able to supply larvae to almost half of the entire ecosystem in a single year.