A research initiative to conduct a taxonomically diversified census of coral reef ecosystems throughout the globe. This international partnership, led by NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, the Australian Institute of Marine Science, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and the Hawai´i Institute of Marine Biology, will expand tropical taxonomic knowledge (with a particular focus on understudied species), increase the exchange of coral reef ecosystem data dispersed throughout the globe, and develop new and innovative technology and sampling strategies, as well as contribute to the coml barcode initiative. Creefs plans to work closely with the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) and other organizations on outreach and education, collaboration with other existing coral reef efforts, and collection and unification of data into the Ocean Biogeographic Information Center for research, management, and preservation purposes.