India with its coastline extending over 7,500 kilometers and subtropical climatic conditions has very few coral reef areas. The mainland coast of India has two widely separated area’s containing reefs: The Gulf of Kutch in the north west, which has some of the most northerly reefs in the world and Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar (with numerous fringing reefs around small islands) in the south east. Important off shore island groups of India with extensive reef growth include the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal and the Lakshadweep group of Islands in the Arabian sea.