Yanlin Wang¹ , Haimei Wang²

1 Tropical Animal Resources Research Center, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resources, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China
2 Hainan Institute of Biotechnology, Haikou, 570206, Hainan, China
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Marine Science, 2025, Vol. 15, No. 3   
Received: 10 Mar., 2025    Accepted: 17 Apr., 2025    Published: 08 May, 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.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) technology has made its mark in biodiversity monitoring in recent years, providing a new means for traditional coral reef fish surveys. This study takes the identification of coral reef fish species in Hainan Island as the core, and systematically reviews the principles, methods of eDNA technology and its application progress in tropical waters. This paper introduces the current status of coral reef ecosystems in Hainan Island and the limitations of traditional fish monitoring methods, explains the background and advantages of the rise of eDNA technology; analyzes the source, characteristics and stability of eDNA, summarizes the collection and preservation methods of water samples and the standard procedures for DNA extraction, amplification and sequence analysis. On this basis, the development and main achievements of eDNA technology in aquatic ecology research are summarized, including fish diversity monitoring cases in typical coral reefs such as Hawaii and Okinawa, Japan, and the adaptability of applications in different sea areas and differences with traditional methods are compared. By reviewing the current research status of fish diversity in coral reefs in Hainan Island, we pointed out the distribution of key protected species and endemic species and the shortcomings in current monitoring. This study believes that eDNA technology has the advantages of high sensitivity and non-invasiveness, which can effectively make up for the shortcomings of traditional methods and has important application value in the protection and management of fish diversity in Hainan Island coral reefs.

Environmental DNA; Coral reef fish; Species identification; Hainan Island; Biodiversity monitoring; Marine protection