Il corallo rosso è l’;the only species of the Corallium genus that lives in the Mediterranean, From Greece and Tunisia to the Strait of Gibraltar, Corsica,Sardinia, Sicily and Balearics included, but it is also widespread in the eastern Atlantic in Portugal, Canary, Morocco and Islands of Capo Verde, Usually up to 200 meters deep in unlit places with poor vegetation.
Generally, it populates all the seas of the globe with the extreme limit constituted by the polar circles. L’;The appearance and color of the coral varies in relation to the place and depth in which it is found.
It needs special living conditions: salinità dell’;constant water (which must be between 28% and 40‰, in relation to the place and type of coral), reduced water movement and dimmed lighting. Il tasso di sedimenti in sospensione nell’;water, if too high, limits their survival.
It therefore prefers to live in shady and sheltered places (semi-obscure grotte, overhangs, cracks in the rocks), starting from a depth of 20/30 meters up to 200 meters. Exceptionally[4] it can be observed at shallow depths (4 m), and also in considerable quantities, in the caves of the Porto Conte areas, Capo Caccia and Punta Giglio in the north/west of Sardinia, in the Alghero area. In Liguria, in the Portofino Marine Reserve, the presence of red coral is continuous on the entire southern side between 15 and 45 meters deep, with even 200 colonies per square meter; it is generally thought that the peculiar characteristic of this coral is its slow growth (one centimeter every approximately 15 years compared to 3-4 centimeters in other areas) and commercial non-exploitability due to thinness[5].
In reality it seems to be a commonplace deriving from the studies of the biologist Danton (late 1800s), che sosteneva che il corallo crescesse fino ad un massimo di 2 mm l’;anno. This belief was the most cited one for a long time, nettamente in contrasto con i pareri di altri biologi dell’;era: Dana, which he argued[6] che il corallo crescesse da 1 a 7 centimetri l’;anno, e Wood, for which the coral could grow from 7 to 15 cm per year. However, Dana's theory appears to be the most reliable[7].
Santa Teresa boasts numerous artisans who work red coral with art and skill.
Se vi offrono <; corallo sardo >; and they show you a light red coral, large in size, and average price: be wary. Coral fishing in Sardinia is now entrusted to a few experts, who are only allowed to collect branches that have fallen due to natural causes. We see if they have given a hammer to the trunk and if the fishermen are caught in the act, they risk severe penalties. There are initiatives to repopulate the colonies, initiatives for sustainable use of the precious material.
As a result, today true Sardinian coral is rare, the big pieces are very precious and cost accordingly ( it was once called red gold ) .
