Researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), the University of Tokyo, and the Okinawa Prefecture Environment Science Center have developed a tool that can determine the diversity of hard corals on a reef through analyzing the DNA in a sample of seawater. Reported in Frontiers in Marine Science, this powerful new tool paves the way for more accurate and accessible coral reef monitoring—a step forward for coral reef conservation and restoration throughout the world.