Antipatharians are a cosmopolitan order, existing in nearly every oceanic location and depth, with the sole exception of brackish waters.

Black corals were originally classified in the subclass Ceriantipatharia along with ceriantharians (tube-dwelling anemones), but were later reclassified under Hexacorallia.

In the Hawaiian language, a black coral is called ʻēkaha kū moana ("hard bush growing in the sea"); it is the official state gem of Hawaii.

[5] In Malay, the corals are called akah bahar ("root of the sea"), likely named for their tendency to grow at low-light depths.

When black corals were first documented by Henri Milne-Edwards and Jules Haime, two French zoologists in 1857, all species of Antipatharia were placed in the family Antipathidae.

[4] From 2001 to 2006, marine biologists Dennis Opresko and Tina Molodtsova helped transform the taxonomic system into what it is today.

[9] List of genera according to the World Register of Marine Species:[10] The skeletons of these corals grow in many patterns unique to this order, such as whips, trees, fans, or coils.

[9] Black corals occur throughout all the oceans from the surface down to the deep-sea, though nearly 75% of species are only found at depths below 50 m (164 ft).

The skeleton of a black coral is hard and inert, due to its composition of protein and chitin, making it nearly inedible.

[17] Once a polyp is anchored, it builds a colony by creating a skeleton, growing new branches and making it thicker, similar to the growth of a tree.

[17] In areas with ideal conditions, black coral colonies can grow to be extremely dense, creating beds.

Sexual reproduction occurs after 10 to 12 years of growth; the colony will then reproduce annually for the rest of its life.

However, in March 2009 around 4,265 years old specimens of Leiopathes glaberrima were found at depths of nearly 300 to 3,000 m (984 to 9,840 ft), making them some of the oldest living organisms on earth.

[9] Black corals have historically been associated with mystical and medicinal properties in Indonesian, Chinese, and Hawaiian culture.

[26][27] Many Indo-Pacific peoples believed that black coral has curative and anti-evil powers and made them into necklace and bracelets; however, black corals are not ideal for jewelry-making due to it being soft as opposed to stony,[4] causing jewelry made with it to dry out and break.

[4] If a real black coral is boiled in milk, it will smell of myrrh; this test can be used to determine if a sample is genuine.

[26][29] In the Caribbean harvesting is typically done to produce jewelry for sale to tourists, and has followed a boom-and-bust cycle, where new coral populations are discovered and overexploited leading to rapid declines.

[31] Despite improvements in management in Cozumel, including no harvesting permits issued since the mid-1990s, the black coral population had failed to recover when assessed in 2016.

[39] Invasive species such as Carijoa riisei, which were introduced to Hawaiian waters by humans, may pose a significant threat to black corals.