Only 1pc of biggest coral reef in Japan thriving

It is famed as a subtropical paradise, with more than 400 different types of coral living beneath crystal clear waters in a far-flung corner of southern Japan.

But the future of Sekisei Lagoon – the country’s largest coral reef – is in question after a government report found that only one per cent of its coral is in a healthy condition.

Warming seas and coral-eating starfish have killed 80 per cent of the coral in the 26 sq mile lagoon since the Eighties, the report says.