Sardinia coral (Corallium rubrum)

Classification (WoRMS)

Full classification as recorded by WoRMS: Kingdom: Animalia · Phylum: Cnidaria · Class: Octocorallia · Order: Scleralcyonacea · Family: Coralliidae · Genus: Corallium.

Accepted name: Corallium rubrum · Authority: (Linnaeus, 1758) · Taxonomic status: accepted · AphiaID: 125416.

Synonyms and superseded combinations recorded for this taxon: Corallium nobile (Pallas, 1766); Isis nobilis Pallas, 1766; Madrepora corallium rubrum (Linnaeus, 1758); Madrepora rubra Linnaeus, 1758.

Source: World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=125416 (CC BY 4.0). Accessed 2026-09-23.

Biology and life history (SeaLifeBase)

Measured values published by SeaLifeBase for Corallium rubrum. Only fields the database actually holds for this species are shown; these are database values, not aquarium guidance.

Maximum length: 3 cm · Depth range: 10–1016 m · Habitat zone: sessile · Vulnerability index: 45.8 of 100 · Fishery importance: commercial.

SeaLifeBase notes: Hard skeleton calcareous: can exceed 50 cm, but in general less developed. Polyp: reach the diameter of 0.15 cm. Depth: commonly 10 m of depth; currently, it is necessary to go down beyond the 30 m, generally even 40 m, and until several hundred meters of depth (Ref. 358). Maximum depth and common maximum depth from Ref. 122525. Habitat: Found in the infra- and circalittoral zones as well as bathyal zones (Ref. 85338). Sites little exposed to the solar rays: lower level of rock overhangs, anfractuosities and excavations, rock walls located at great depth (Ref. 358); conditioned by two essential criteria: the weak luminosity and the substrate. One finds it in theory only on the bed rock under conditions of reduced illumination. At the surface levels, it characterizes the biocenoses semi-obscure caves. Low, one meets it on rock cliffs or sproutings. Harvests, made more and more deeply, restrict its bathymetric distribution. (Ref. 364). Found on cave walls, vertical cliffs and overhangs (Ref. 66603). Exposure to high temperatures beyond 24°C appears to have a critical mortality effect, decreasing polyp activity and calcification rates (Ref. 129072).

Source: SeaLifeBase species summary (SpecCode 42663) — https://www.sealifebase.se/summary/Corallium-rubrum.html (CC BY-NC 3.0 — non-commercial use only). Accessed 2026-09-23.

Distribution and occurrence records (GBIF)

5,324 georeferenced occurrence records for Corallium rubrum are published through GBIF from 17 countries or marine areas. The map above plots 32 distinct locations from a sample of 3,000 records, omitting 20 inland records that carry an institution's coordinates rather than a collection site; it shows where the species has been observed and reported, not a modelled range.

Most records by country or area: France (3,629); Spain (1,148); Italy (428); Greece (46); Croatia (25).

The full country table, WoRMS marine regions and the sampling notes are on this species' Distribution page.

Source: GBIF Occurrence Search (taxonKey 5185014) — https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=5185014&has_coordinate=true (records CC0 / CC BY); WoRMS distribution records (MarineRegions) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=125416 (CC BY 4.0); Natural Earth 110m basemap — https://www.naturalearthdata.com/ (public domain). Accessed 2026-09-23.

Description and natural history (Wikipedia)

Red corals grow on rocky sea bottom with low sedimentation, typically in dark environments—either in the depths or in dark caverns or crevices. The first species to be described, C. rubrum (formerly Gorgonia nobilis), is found mainly in the Mediterranean Sea. It grows at depths from 10 to 300 meters below sea level, although the shallower of these habitats have been largely depleted by harvesting. In the underwater caves of Alghero, Sardinia (the "Coral Riviera"), it grows at depth from 4 to 35 meters. The same species is also found at Atlantic sites near the Strait of Gibraltar, at the Cape Verde Islands and off the coast of southern Portugal. Other Corallium species are native to the western Pacific, notably around Japan and Taiwan; these occur at depths of 350 to 1500 meters below sea level in areas with strong currents.

In common with other Octocorallia, red corals have the shape of small leafless bushes and grow up to a meter in height. Their valuable skeleton is composed of intermeshed spicules of hard calcium carbonate, colored in shades of red by carotenoid pigments. In living specimens, the skeletal branches are overlaid with soft bright red integument, from which numerous retractable white polyps protrude. The polyps exhibit octameric radial symmetry.

The following are known species in the genus:

The hard skeleton of red coral branches is naturally matte, but can be polished to a glassy shine. It exhibits a range of warm reddish pink colors from pale pink to deep red; the word coral is also used to name such colors. Owing to its intense and permanent coloration and glossiness, precious coral skeletons have been harvested since antiquity for decorative use. Coral jewellery has been found in ancient Egyptian and prehistoric European burials, and continues to be made to the present day. It was especially popular during the Victorian age.

Precious coral has hardness 3.5 on the Mohs scale. Due to its softness and opacity, coral is usually cut en cabochon, or used to make beads.

At the beginning of the 1st millennium, there was significant trade in coral between the Mediterranean and India, where it was highly prized as a substance believed to be endowed with mysterious sacred properties. Pliny the Elder remarks that, before the great demand from India, the Gauls used it for the ornamentation of their weapons and helmets; but by this period, so great was the Eastern demand, that it was very rarely seen even in the regions which produced it. Among the Romans, branches of coral were hung around children's necks to preserve them from danger from the outside, and the substance had many medicinal virtues attributed to it. The belief in coral's potency as a charm continued throughout the Middle Ages and early in 20th century Italy, where it is known as, it was worn as a protection from the evil eye and by women as a cure for infertility.

From the Middle Ages onward, the securing of the right to the coral fisheries off the African coasts was the object of considerable rivalry among the Mediterranean communities of Europe.

The story of the Torre del Greco is so interwoven with that of the coral so as to constitute an inseparable pair, and is documented as early as the fifteenth century. In 1790 the Royal Society of Coral was established in the town of Torre del Greco, with the idea of working and selling coral fish. This shows that the coral fishing flourished for many years in the city.

It was also enacted December 22, 1789, by Ferdinand IV of Bourbon Code coral (prepared by the Neapolitan jurist Michael Florio), with the intent to regulate the coral fishing in those years starring, in addition to the sailors Torre del Greco, the locals and those in Trapani

This regulation did not have the expected success. From 1805, when he founded the first factory for the manufacturing of coral in Torre del Greco (by Paul Bartholomew Martin, but with French Genoese origin), the golden age for the manufacturing of coral in the city situated on the slopes of the Vesuvius started, because working together with the coral fishing was increasingly under the control of Torre del Greco fishermen. Since 1875, the Torre del Greco began working with the Sciacca coral and a school for the manufacturing of coral was built in 1878 in the city (which closed in 1885 to reopen in 1887), with which in 1933 established a museum of the coral. Then came the time of processing of Japanese coral found in the markets of Chennai and Kolkata.

Other story instead a short period the Tunisian fisheries were secured by Charles V for Spain; but the monopoly soon fell into the hands of the French, who held the right until the Revolutionary government in 1793 threw the trade open. For a short period (about 1806) the British government controlled the fisheries, but this later returned to the hands of the French authorities. Before the French Revolution much of the coral trade was centred in Marseille, but then largely moved to Italy, where the procuring of the raw material and the working of it was centring in Naples, Rome and Genoa.

The origin of coral is explained in Greek mythology by the story of Perseus. Having petrified Cetus, the sea monster threatening Andromeda, Perseus placed Medusa's head on the riverbank while he washed his hands. When he recovered her head, he saw that her blood had turned the seaweed (in some variants the reeds) into red coral. Thus, the Greek word for coral is 'Gorgeia', as Medusa was one of the three Gorgons.

Poseidon resided in a palace made of coral and gems, and Hephaestus first crafted his work from coral.

Source: Wikipedia: Precious coral — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precious_coral (CC BY-SA 4.0). Accessed 2026-09-23.

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