International Journal of Marine Science, 2025, Vol.15, No.2, 65-74 http://www.aquapublisher.com/index.php/ijms 65 Feature Review Open Access Biodiversity and Ecological Functions of Coral Reef Fish in Hainan Island and the South China Sea 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 Corresponding author: haimei.wang@hibio.org International Journal of Marine Science, 2025, Vol.15, No.2, doi: 10.5376/ijms.2025.15.0007 Received: 10 Feb., 2025 Accepted: 13 Mar., 2025 Published: 23 Mar., 2025 Copyright © 2025 Wang and Wang, 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. Preferred citation for this article: Wang H.M., and Wang G.L., 2025, Biodiversity and ecological functions of coral reef fish in Hainan island and the South China Sea, International Journal of Marine Science, 15(2): 65-74 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2025.15.0007) Abstract 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. Keywords Coral reef fish; Biodiversity; Ecological functions; Hainan Island; South China Sea 1 Introduction Coral reef fish are the core biological elements that maintain the structure and function of coral reef systems. It plays an irreplaceable role in key processes such as material cycling, habitat construction and algal regulation, and these processes directly determine the resilience and productivity level of coral reef ecosystems (Xi et al., 2022; Luo et al., 2023; Huang et al., 2024; Zhao et al., 2024). Studies have confirmed that fish population density and species richness are significantly positively correlated with the health of coral bases. Changes in coral coverage and three-dimensional structure significantly affect the dynamics and ecological functions of fish communities. Hainan Island and the South China Sea, as typical tropical sea areas, are home to coral reef ecosystems with high biodiversity. This area has been listed by the international academic community as a key hotspot for Marine biodiversity. Existing research has recorded over a thousand species of coral reef fish, covering dozens of families, genera and groups. For example, 874 species have been recorded in the Xisha Islands of the South China Sea, and more than 360 species have been investigated and confirmed around Hainan Island, fully demonstrating its species enrichment characteristics (Xi et al., 2022; Zhang et al., 2023; Zhao et al., 2024). The diversity distribution of fish species is jointly regulated by environmental factors such as the gradient of water temperature and salinity, and the complexity of coral structure (Xia et al., 2022). Analyzing the characteristics of fish diversity and their ecological functions is the theoretical basis for formulating scientific conservation strategies. The composition characteristics of fish communities can visually represent the health status of coral reefs and their ability to maintain ecological services such as coastal protection and fishery resource supply (Shi, 2015; Zhao et al., 2019; Zhao et al., 2024). Human disturbances such as overfishing, bottom trawling operations and coastal engineering have led to coral degradation and the loss of fish diversity, triggering the unification of community structure and the decline of ecological functions (Huang et al., 2024). Currently, environmental DNA (eDNA) detection and DNA barcoding technology have been widely applied in biodiversity assessment and conservation decision support (Xi et al., 2022; Zhang et al., 2023).
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