Precious coral or Red coral, is the common name given to a genus of marine corals, Corallium.
The distinguishing characteristic of precious corals is their durable and intensely colored red or pink-orange skeleton, which is used for making jewelry.
This is the Corallium rubrum species they grow on rocky seabottom with low sedimentation, typically in dark environments—either in the depths or in dark caverns or crevices. The original species, C. rubrum 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.
Now it's a protected species, although is still fished by licenced divers at very deep water (+100 meters deep) in South Italy.
Our specimen was officially bought from a licenced supplier with official documents, from South Italy, mounted in a black lacquered wood base.