Other corals around the world don’t typically possess the same biological ability to persist. Given the global climate warming trajectory we are on – headed for a 2-3C increase or more by the end of the century, only corals that are now living well below their maximum temperature will be able to tolerate that change.

At this rate, the Red Sea reefs could be one of the last standing by the year 2100. “We know of corals in other regions that live in very hot water and survive,” Fine says, “but none that have such a large gap between the summer maxima and their bleaching threshold.”

And as one of the last coral reefs to survive, the Red Sea reefs could potentially “form a refuge where it becomes one of the few remaining reefs with full ecosystem function”, says Grottoli. “It could serve as a model for restoration once climate change stress is mitigated and we start being able to actually reintroduce coral… it could serve as a model for what a normal reef might look like.”

But in order for it to serve as a refuge and possible model in the future, it will need to survive more than the rising temperatures; nutrients and heavy metals from human activity such as unchecked coastal development, agricultural and wastewater runoffs, boats and fish farming could be the super-corals’ kryptonite. When Fine and the team introduce nutrients such as nitrate, ammonium and phosphate into the experiments, the corals’ physiology is compromised and they’re no longer as resilient. “It’s not enough to be resilient to temperature,” Fine says. “If we are to secure the Gulf of Aqaba and the northern Red Sea as a coral reef refuge, we have to remove the local stress.”

Along with Fine, Meibom, and several other scientists and diplomats, Kleinhaus is calling on Unesco to declare the Red Sea reef as a Marine World Heritage Site, to help ensure that the reef persists and will be protected from local threats that could otherwise compromise the coral’s resilience.