Coral reef fishes are of considerable economic value to the adjacent coastal cities. There are artisanal, professional and recreational fisheries in developing and developed countries around the world, and there are some target selected high value species.
Beyond this, in many parts of the world there is a growing aquarium fish industry for many small reef species. This industry is artisanal, or recreational, and the final product value is quite high: small angel fishes in New York are far more expensive per kilogram than the finest tuna sashimi.
Listed below are a few reef fish species considered endangered or vulnerable by the IUCN (Red List of Threatened Species).
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Cheilinus undulatus (Napoleon Wrasse) from the Indo-Pacific region
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Epinephelus itajara (Jewfish) from the Caribbean and Brazil
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Epinephelus striatus (Nassau grouper) from the Caribbean
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Hippocampus kuda (SeaHorse) from the Indo-Pacific region