A Coral Skeleton You Have to See to Believe!

Coral Skeleton

Filipino artist Gregory Raymond Halili spent three years creating a life-size skeleton out of pieces of washed-up coral!

Halili gathered all the coral he needed along the beaches of Calatagan, Anilao, and Bolinao in the Philippines, spreading out his search as the types of corals found differ in each area.

“The hardest “bone” to find was the skull. There are many corals that are shaped like a cranium but are not the right size. I wanted to be honest with the work, so I looked for a long time and finally found it on a Calatagan beach.”

Coral turns white when it dies, creating an eerie resemblance to bones and making it the perfect medium for Halili to work with. The mock bones in Halili’s piece appear to hover a few inches above a 7-ft-long driftwood table, an illusion he accomplished by drilling the wood and coral pieces, then connecting them all together with steel needles and superglue. He found the perfect coral pieces to fit together like a puzzle!

Sensing You Want More?

Filled with remarkable photos and over 1,500 all new—all true—stories to immerse yourself in, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Shatter Your Senses! is the newest book in the bestselling series from Ripley Publishing—so incredible you won’t believe your eyes…or ears…or nose!

Spark your senses here, on the blog, weekly for a feature from the 2018 annual, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Shatter Your Senses! and follow us on social media for a chance to win a copy, among other unbelievable prizes!