Red corals are precious corals. Rare earth elements (REE) in red corals of different species harvested from different seas were investigated in this paper. REE accumulation is mainly affected by biological growth; ∑REE are low, and light rare earth elements are relatively enriched while heavy earth elements are relatively depleted; δCe values exhibit mainly negative anomalies, whereas δEu values show positive anomalies in some samples; REE characteristics of different red corals somewhat indicate the sea where they are harvested, and also show that the living environment of red corals is closely related to volcanic hydrothermal activities, which influence the source input of red coral growth. The ecological environment rareness contributes to the rareness of red corals.