Coral reefs are essential spawning, nursery, breeding, and feeding grounds for numerous organisms.

In terms of biodiversity, the variety of species living on a coral reef is greater than in any other shallow-water marine ecosystems and is one of the most diverse on the planet, yet coral reefs cover less than one tenth of one percent of the ocean floor. Of the 34 recognised animal Phyla, 32 are found on coral reefs, compared to only nine Phyla in tropical rainforests. In addition to scores of invertebrate species and macrofauna (sharks, sea turtles, etc.), coral reefs support more than 800 hard coral species and more than 4,000 species of fish. Over 25 percent of the world's fish biodiversity, and between nine and 12 percent of the world's total fisheries, are associated with coral reefs. While a portion of these diverse species are associated with reefs only to hunt or for a portion of their life cycle such as juveniles utilizing reefs as a nursery and adults during spawningothers spend their entire lives in reef ecosystems. And this may only be the tip of the iceberg; scientists estimate that there may be another one to nine million undiscovered species of organisms living in and around reefs!