There's a discussion on one of the other sites re. dyed coral. Someone seems to be hoping to determine a coral sample as dyed. She has cut into it and found it to be red all the way through. Here's a piece of dyed bamboo coral, 40mm long, with a piece broken off. It shows that the dye has penetrated, all right, but not quite a millimeter. How could dye penetrate much deeper into this material?

I wonder how many coral beds (spawning grounds for endangered fish) are being destroyed with the harvesting of this material for the sake of the costume jewelry industry. There are importers that claim this material to be "cultivated" but it has been my impression that only the tiny branch (frangia) is cultivated. It's important for them to say that so they can get through customs.

Yet, booths at shows with this stuff are still swamped with environmentally naive customers!