Coral is a type of non-solid block that comes in five variants: tube, brain, bubble, fire, and horn.
Dead coral is the dead variants of coral.
Obtaining
Breaking

Coral and dead coral can be mined instantly but can be obtained only when mined with a Silk Touch enchanted tool.
Dead coral can only be obtained with a Silk Touch pickaxe.[1]
Natural generation
Coral naturally generates in coral reef structures found in warm ocean biomes.
Post-generation
When using bone meal on dirt, coarse dirt, sand, red sand, gravel, or clay in warm ocean biomes, coral generates in place of some of the seagrass. In Bedrock Edition, the same can happen in any biomes as long as bone meal is used in a water source above the aforementioned solid blocks.
Dead coral is created when coral is placed out of water.
Usage
Coral can be used as a building or decoration block.
Dead coral
In order for coral to stay alive, at least one of the blocks surrounding it must be water. If placed outside of water, it dies and transforms into its respective dead coral after 3 to 5 seconds.
Dead coral cannot be turned back into living coral.
Note Blocks
All types of coral and dead coral can be placed under note blocks to produce "bass drum" sounds.
Sounds
Normal (Alive)
Sound | Subtitles | Source | Description | Resource location | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Block broken | Blocks | Once the block has broken | block.wet_grass.break | subtitles.block.generic.break | 0.8 | 0.8 | 16 | |
Block placed | Blocks | When the block is placed | block.wet_grass.place | subtitles.block.generic.place | 0.8 | 0.8 | 16 | |
Block breaking | Blocks | While the block is in the process of being broken | block.wet_grass.hit | subtitles.block.generic.hit | 0.25 | 0.5 | 16 | |
None[sound 1] | Entity-Dependent | Falling on the block with fall damage | block.wet_grass.fall | None[sound 1] | 0.5 | 0.75 | 16 | |
Footsteps | Entity-Dependent | Walking on the block | block.wet_grass.step | subtitles.block.generic.footsteps | 0.15 | 1.0 | 16 |
Sound | Source | Description | Resource location | Volume | Pitch |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Blocks | Once the block has broken | dig.stone | 1.0 | 0.8-1.0 | |
Blocks | When the block is placed | dig.stone | 1.0 | 0.8-1.0 | |
Blocks | While the block is in the process of being broken | hit.stone | 0.37 | 0.5 | |
Players | Falling on the block with fall damage | fall.stone | 0.4 | 1.0 | |
Players | Walking on the block | step.stone | 0.3 | 1.0 | |
Players | Jumping from the block | jump.stone | 0.12 | 1.0 | |
Players | Falling on the block without fall damage | land.stone | 0.22 | 1.0 |
Dead
Sound | Subtitles | Source | Description | Resource location | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Block broken | Blocks | Once the block has broken | block.stone.break | subtitles.block.generic.break | 1.0 | 0.8 | 16 | |
Block placed | Blocks | When the block is placed | block.stone.place | subtitles.block.generic.place | 1.0 | 0.8 | 16 | |
Block breaking | Blocks | While the block is in the process of being broken | block.stone.hit | subtitles.block.generic.hit | 0.25 | 0.5 | 16 | |
None[sound 1] | Entity-Dependent | Falling on the block with fall damage | block.stone.fall | None[sound 1] | 0.5 | 0.75 | 16 | |
Footsteps | Entity-Dependent | Walking on the block | block.stone.step | subtitles.block.generic.footsteps | 0.15 | 1.0 | 16 |
Sound | Source | Description | Resource location | Volume | Pitch |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Blocks | Once the block has broken | dig.stone | 1.0 | 0.8-1.0 | |
Blocks | When the block is placed | dig.stone | 1.0 | 0.8-1.0 | |
Blocks | While the block is in the process of being broken | hit.stone | 0.37 | 0.5 | |
Players | Falling on the block with fall damage | fall.stone | 0.4 | 1.0 | |
Players | Walking on the block | step.stone | 0.3 | 1.0 | |
Players | Jumping from the block | jump.stone | 0.12 | 1.0 | |
Players | Falling on the block without fall damage | land.stone | 0.22 | 1.0 |
Data values
ID
Name | Identifier | Form | Block tags | Translation key |
---|---|---|---|---|
Tube Coral | tube_coral | Block & Item | corals coral_plants underwater_bonemeals | block.minecraft.tube_coral |
Brain Coral | brain_coral | Block & Item | corals coral_plants underwater_bonemeals | block.minecraft.brain_coral |
Bubble Coral | bubble_coral | Block & Item | corals coral_plants underwater_bonemeals | block.minecraft.bubble_coral |
Fire Coral | fire_coral | Block & Item | corals coral_plants underwater_bonemeals | block.minecraft.fire_coral |
Horn Coral | horn_coral | Block & Item | corals coral_plants underwater_bonemeals | block.minecraft.horn_coral |
Dead Tube Coral | dead_tube_coral | Block & Item | None | block.minecraft.dead_tube_coral |
Dead Brain Coral | dead_brain_coral | Block & Item | None | block.minecraft.dead_brain_coral |
Dead Bubble Coral | dead_bubble_coral | Block & Item | None | block.minecraft.dead_bubble_coral |
Dead Fire Coral | dead_fire_coral | Block & Item | None | block.minecraft.dead_fire_coral |
Dead Horn Coral | dead_horn_coral | Block & Item | None | block.minecraft.dead_horn_coral |
Name | Identifier | Numeric ID | Form | Item ID[i 1] | Translation key |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Coral | coral | 386 | Block & Giveable Item[i 2] | Identical[i 3] | tile.coral.blue.name tile.coral.pink.name tile.coral.purple.name tile.coral.red.name tile.coral.yellow.name tile.coral.blue_dead.name tile.coral.pink_dead.name tile.coral.purple_dead.name tile.coral.red_dead.name tile.coral.yellow_dead.name |
Block state
Name | Default value | Allowed values | Description |
---|---|---|---|
waterlogged | true | false true | Whether or not there's water in the same place as this coral. |
Name | Metadata Bits | Default value | Allowed values | Values for Metadata Bits |
Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
coral_color | 0x1 0x2 0x4 | blue
| blue | 0 | Tube Coral |
pink | 1 | Brain Coral | |||
purple | 2 | Bubble Coral | |||
red | 3 | Fire Coral | |||
yellow | 4 | Horn Coral | |||
dead_bit | 0x8 | false | false true | 0 1 | Whether or not this coral is dead. |
History
Java Edition Classic | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
May 21, 2009 | Notch expresses interest in a suggestion regarding corals by user "solarblade". | ||||
Java Edition Alpha | |||||
June 28, 2010 | Notch mentioned on his blog: "I tried adding corals, but it's really hard to draw a single block that looks like corals, since it's really more about crazy amounts of variation and diversity. But I do know that the corals will have tiny fish particles around them." | ||||
Java Edition | |||||
October 5, 2012 | Coral were jokingly teased in the fake snapshot 12marc40awesome, along with fish as mobs and "fish blocks". | ||||
November 18, 2017 | ![]() ![]() ![]() | ||||
1.13 | 18w10a | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | |||
18w10b | ![]() | ||||
18w10d | Added coral reefs, allowing coral plants to generate naturally. | ||||
18w14b | "Coral Plants" have been renamed to "Coral". | ||||
Blue, pink, purple, red, and yellow coral plants have been renamed to tube, brain, bubble, fire, and horn coral, respectively. | |||||
pre6 | 5 new sound events that apply to coral have been added: block.wet_grass.break , block.wet_grass.fall , block.wet_grass.hit , block.wet_grass.place , and block.wet_grass.step . | ||||
pre10 | Coral can now be collected using Silk Touch. Prior to this, coral was completely unobtainable in survival. | ||||
1.13.1 | 18w31a | Bone meal used in water of warm ocean biomes now has a chance of growing coral, making them renewable. | |||
18w32a | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | ||||
Bedrock Edition | |||||
1.4.0 | beta 1.2.14.2 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | |||
1.13.0 | beta 1.13.0.9 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | |||
1.16.0 | beta 1.16.0.51 | Coral can now be collected using Silk Touch. | |||
Legacy Console Edition | |||||
TU69 | 1.76 | Patch 38 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | ||
Education Edition | |||||
1.4.0 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Issues
Issues relating to "Coral" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Trivia
- In real life, coral are colonies of sessile (immobile) animals.
Gallery
Coral naturally generating in a coral reef.
Coral blocks within a coral reef.