About Corallium rubrum (Linnaeus, 1758)
Precious coral, also called red coral, is the common name for the marine coral genus Corallium. A key distinguishing feature of precious corals is their durable, intensely colored red or pink-orange skeleton, which is used to make jewelry. Red corals grow on rocky seabeds with low sedimentation, usually in dark environments such as deep water, dark caverns, or crevices. C. rubrum (originally described as Gorgonia nobilis) was the first species in the genus to be described. It is mainly found in the Mediterranean Sea, growing at depths between 10 and 300 meters below sea level. Shallower habitats of this species have been largely depleted by harvesting. In the underwater caves of Alghero, Sardinia (known as the "Coral Riviera"), C. rubrum grows at depths from 4 to 35 meters. This species is also found in Atlantic locations near the Strait of Gibraltar, at the Cape Verde Islands, and off the coast of southern Portugal. Other species in the Corallium genus are native to the western Pacific, most notably around Japan and Taiwan. These species live at depths of 350 to 1500 meters below sea level, in areas with strong currents. The currently accepted scientific name for red precious coral is Corallium rubrum (Linnaeus, 1758).
