Seagrass meadows are found in sheltered waters behind coastal islands and in large estuaries.

High thickets of Porites and Acropora hard corals grow in the archipelago's sheltered back reefs.

[4] The southernmost reef corals are found on the northern coast of Kwazulu-Natal in South Africa, between the Mozambican border and Cape Vidal.

A community of hard and soft corals, sponges, and ascidians, known as the Maputaland Reef Complex, live on submerged outcrops of fossilized dune and beach rock 9 to 13 meters below the surface.

Loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles lay their eggs on the region's sandy beaches.