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Aloha! Thank you for exploring the marine life of
Hawai'i! The following is a description of common marine
organisms found on coral reefs in the state of Hawai'i. Because
coral reefs display incredible biological diversity the species
listed here serve only as an introduction to the identification
and ecology of shallow water reef-dwelling organisms. For each
species there is a written description to aid in field
identification and a brief overview of habitat and ecology.
Images illustrating key morphological features are present for
many species and scientific and Hawai'ian names are pronounced
using recorded sound clips. These species are a required
component of our college course QUEST, an
acronym for Quantative Underwater Ecological Survey Techniques,
which is taught by the Kalakaua
Marine Education Center and Marine Option Program at UH-Hilo by faculty
from throughout the University
of Hawai'i system. QUEST is focused on training students to
conduct biological surveys of coral reefs. The species presented
here are considered a minimum number of organisms to represent
the community structure of coral reefs in Hawai'i.
Sound Option: scientific and Hawaiian names indicated by 
are
pronounced using TrueSpeech
sound clips. In order to use this feature you must
have a sound card and download
and install a TrueSpeech sound player, which are available
for a variety of computing platforms.
Species found only in Hawai'i and nowhere else in the world
are indicated by the endemic sign 
For some species additional information on Native Hawaiian
uses is indicated by the 
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Feature of the week, August 27, 1997