Haimei Wang¹ , Guilin Wang²

1 Hainan Institute of Biotechnology, Haikou, 570206, Hainan, China
2 Center for Tropical Marine Fisheries Research, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resouces, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Marine Science, 2025, Vol. 15, No. 2   
Received: 10 Feb., 2025    Accepted: 13 Mar., 2025    Published: 23 Mar., 2025

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

This study explored the role of coral fish in core ecological functions such as material cycling, algal regulation and habitat construction, focusing on the species diversity characteristics, population distribution patterns and ecological contributions of coral reef fish in Hainan Island and the South China Sea. Reef fish maintain the stability and resilience of coral reef systems through multiple pathways such as energy transfer, carbon sequestration, and clean symbiosis. The Hainan Island and the South China Sea region are facing a combination of pressures such as illegal fishing operations, climate change, land-based pollution and habitat fragmentation, resulting in the simplification of the biological community structure, functional degradation and the attenuation of ecological services. This study aims to assist in building a cross-regional Marine protected area network, implement eco-friendly fishery policies, strengthen basic scientific research and real-time monitoring systems, establish a multi-party collaborative management mechanism, provide scientific basis for the sustainable governance of regional coral reef ecosystems, and contribute to the coordinated optimization of ecological conservation and resource utilization.

Coral reef fish; Biodiversity; Ecological functions; Hainan Island; South China Sea