318
S. Andréfouët
Fig. 16.1 Map of the focal
area of this review, which
includes the Red Sea and the
Western Indian Ocean
(background image from
ReefBase,
http://www.reefbase.org).
Red letters refer to reef sites
shown in Fig. 16.2
16.1 Introduction
The Red Sea, the East African Coast from Somalia to South Africa, Madagascar and
the Western Indian Ocean islands offer a vast array of diverse coastal configurations
stretched across both a wide latitudinal gradient and a rich coastal-oceanic gradient
(Fig. 16.1). The Red Sea is a deep semi-enclosed water body bounded by an arid environment; the Mozambique Channel is a inner sea sandwiched between Madagascar
and Mozambique, sheltering the high Comoros Islands and the low Iles Eparses; the
Seychelles, Mauritius and La Reunion are made of isolated and remote islands, atolls
and banks; finally the eastern shores of Madagascar Tanzania, Kenya and Somalia
are directly exposed to the Indian Ocean and its monsoon driven-climate and to land
influences as well (Sheppard 2000).