The highest diversity of shallow benthic species in the world is in tropical Indo-Pacific, so let's see how many we can find and identify.
Students will each be a 'census-taker' of 1 coral outcropping or patch reef. If the patch reef is large, 3 or 4 students could float around it and collect data. They will count the number of species, the number of individuals of each specie, and record data on where each individual 'hangs out' (in the coral, under the coral, in the sandy area around the coral head, above the coral...).