The corals were discovered on deep seamounts and ridges in the mineral-rich Prime Crust Zone, which stretches from the Mariana Trench to the Hawaiian islands, according to a paper published in scientific journal Zootaxa on Thursday.
Authors Dennis Opresko of the Smithsonian Institute and Daniel Wagner of Conservation International said they aimed to identify deep-sea habitats in the zone which holds the highest concentrations on Earth of cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts.
"These long-living corals are much like the redwoods of the ocean. They're not only slow-growing and long-lived, but also provide important habitat for many other species," Wagner said.
"Mining their habitat could potentially wipe them out before we know their true value."
The new black coral species are so named because of their black skeletons, but they can appear pink, white, or various other colours because of the living tissues growing over the skeleton.
Previous studies have found a black coral species more than 4,250 years old, Conservation International said.
The Jamaica-headquartered ISA has drawn up regulations on exploration but has yet to establish the rules for exploitation needed for deep-sea mining to go ahead.
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