CoralOccasional

Red Sea fan coral

Melithaea erythraea

A flame-red, intricately branched little fan in cave mouths and under overhangs – it only ignites into its true colour in your torch beam.

The Red Sea fan coral (Melithaea erythraea) is a jewel of the depths: the densely branched colony of 30–60 centimetres glows scarlet or orange, its branches speckled with tiny white or yellowish polyps. The trick is that you barely see this red blaze with the naked eye: at depth the red component of sunlight is absorbed, so the colony looks greyish-brown – until you put your torch on it and it flares up like embers.

This sea fan is a gorgonian, a horny coral: its flexible axis, reinforced with limestone particles, bends elastically with the current yet holds up the half-metre fan. It has no symbiotic algae and lives entirely on plankton filtered from the water – which is why it favours shaded spots, under overhangs, in cave mouths and wall crevices, where light is scarce but the current delivers the food.

Around Hurghada, search the shaded corners of the deeper walls and wrecks: whole little red forests often grow upside down beneath the overhangs. The colony grows slowly and is extremely fragile – keep fins, gauges and cameras clear, and never grab it if the current shoves you. Coral jewellery in the shops is no better an idea: buying ornaments made from sea fans funds the destruction of the reef.

Did you know?

Its scientific epithet, erythraea, literally means "the red one" – the species was first described from the Red Sea, so the sea it is famous for is written twice into its very name.

Where can you meet it?

It lives on the deeper, shaded walls: it appears regularly under the overhangs of Umm Gamar, on the pinnacles of Carless Reef and in the recesses of the El Mina wreck.

Frequently asked questions

Because water absorbs the red component of sunlight within the first few metres, so at depth everything red looks greyish-brown. Bring a torch: in its beam the fan coral lights up as if freshly painted.

Don't: corals are protected in Egypt, exporting them is illegal, and customs can confiscate them and fine you on top. Every piece bought also means another colony broken off the reef – the best souvenir is a photo.

Because it lives on plankton, not light, so it has no need to compete for sunny spots. Under shaded overhangs there are fewer rivals, while the current still delivers the food – prime real estate, from its point of view.