Subnautica: A Complete Guide To Corals

There's no way around it; if you want to survive in Subnautica, you have to explore Planet 4546B's variety of biomes in order to find various resources and materials that will aid you in your adventure.

From basic materials like Lubricant and Titanium to Food and Water, there's a lot to find, gather, or harvest in Subnautica's alien planet. Among the things that you can reap are corals, beautiful life forms that are scattered all over the ocean and have different uses depending on the coral species. So if you're just starting out in this game and want to know just how useful the coral you just harvested is, keep reading and find out!

Brain Coral

Harvestable?: Yes

This purple coral has green holes all over it; these holes serve a purpose as it's from there that the Brain Coral expels oxygen bubbles. Because of that, you better have an eye out for these guys when exploring caves. They can save your life when you run out of oxygen (it refills ten units of oxygen per bubble). In fact, if you manage to pick up a Brain Coral using a Propulsion Cannon, you can use it as a portable source of oxygen.

Moreover, you can use the Survival Knife to get Brain Coral Samples from this coral, which you can later plant in the Alien Containment or in the Exterior Growbed. You could also use these samples to get x70 energy by putting them in the Bioreactor.

These are the places where you'll be able to find Brain Coral:

Bulb Zone
Bulb Zone Caves
Crash Zone
Crash Zone Mesas
Dunes
Grassy Plateaus
Kelp Forest
Kelp Forest Caves
Mountains
Mushroom Forest
Mushroom Forest Caves
Primary Containment Facility Aquarium
Reefback Leviathan
Safe Shallows
Safe Shallows Caves

Coral Shell Plate

Harvestable?: Yes

You'll find the Coral Shell Plate in three types: Coral, Slanted and Veined, but only the coral is harvestable. From this life form, you can obtain anything ranging from 1 to 4 Coral Tube Samples, just hit it a few times with the Survival Knife to harvest the raw material. You can later use the Coral Tube Sample to craft Bleach or drop it in the Bioreactor since it has x70 energy value.

All three types of Coral Shell Plate look different. The Slanted type is dark green and will turn gray if you hit it too many times with the Survival Knife. The Veined Shell Plate has bioluminescent yellowish and brown veins all over it, so it shouldn't be that difficult telling them apart. Still, the ones you should be looking for are the Coral Shell Plates, which are a light olive color.

These are the biomes where you'll find this Coral:

Bulb Zone
Grassy Plateaus
Grassy Plateaus Caves
Mountains Caves
Mushroom Forest Caves
Safe Shallows

Tree Mushroom

Harvestable?: Yes

This type of coral is so huge you could mistake it for a giant underwater tree; you can only find it in the Mushroom Forest. You'll find other species growing in the coral's trunk, like Tree Leeches or Grue Clusters. There's also a big chance you'll be able to get Lithium from the trunk.

You can use a knife to cut the mushroom caps that grow on the top of the coral and obtain Fungal Samples (which are a type of Raw Material whose only real value is its x70 energy).

Earthen Coral Tubes

Harvestable?: No

This type of coral tends to grow on the walls and ceilings that are inside certain caves. You can pick them up using the Propulsion Cannon or blast them away using the Repulsion Cannon. However, these tubular-looking corals are purely decorative as they aren't harvestable. If you want to, you can find them in the following biomes:

Bulb Zone Caves
Underwater Islands
Underwater Islands Caves

Giant Coral Tubes

Harvestable?: Yes

You can only find this type of coral in four biomes, but they're so massive you won't be able to miss them. Once you spot one, use the knife to hit it a few times and obtain Coral Tube Samples (which you can later use for its x70 energy value or to craft Bleach). You can find this huge coral in the following places:

Crash Zone
Kelp Forest
Safe Shallows
Safe Shallows Caves
Primary Containment Facility Aquarium

Pyrocoral

Harvestable?: No

Pyrocorals look more like a rock covered in moss than an actual coral. You'll find this species only in certain areas of the Lost River biome, like the Corridor and the Mountains Corridor. You can't harvest this type of coral and can only interact with it using the Cannons.

Jordi's Tung

Harvestable?: No

This type of coral is so pretty it looks more like a centerpiece than a coral. Jordi's Tung

has a dark blue base with thin and yellow tendrils rising out; those are bioluminescent, so they'll glow. Sadly, there's not much you can get from these corals as they are not harvestable. Still, you can use them as decoration. You'll find Jordi's Tung in these places:

Grassy Plateaus
Lost River (Mountains Corridor)
Mushroom Forest
Primary Containment Facility Aquarium

Table Coral

Harvestable?: Yes

These disk-shaped corals come in four different colors: green, red, purple, and blue. However, the red ones seem to be far more common than the other. These guys can be found attached to walls or growing from the seabed; they also pulsate.

You can harvest Table Coral to get Table Coral Samples, a Raw Material you can combine with other things to craft a Computer Chip, the Scanner Room, or the Fabricator. You could also use these samples to create energy in the Bioreactor since they have an x70 energy value.