Abstract: Sarcophyton is a common soft coral genera in the coral reef ecosystem that is known to have important pharmaceutical value. Despite that Sarcophyton resources are abundant in China, no studies so far have pursued its identification. Moreover, the external morphology similarities of Sarcophyton species make it hard to be differentiated. In this study, a total of 26 samples of Sarcophyton were collected from reef areas in the West Island of Sanya City, Ganzhe Island and Dazhou Island of Wanning City, Hainan Province. A preliminary sclerites morphological identification, and analysis mitochondrial msh1 and COI gene for species identification, indicated that the collected species belongs to Sarcophyton cherbonnieri, Sarcophyton crassum,Sarcophyton trocheliophorum,Sarcophyton glaucum and Sarcophyton ehrenbergi. Since the soft corals S. cherbonnier and S.crassum are the first report to China, this study provides important baseline data for the identification of soft corals in China.