Plankton collections near coral reefs were made by hand‐towing nets while swimming and by using a suction device for sampling caves. Plankton in sheltered areas was considerably different from that in nonsheltered areas; some plankton forms maintained position near coral reefs, indicating that the terms planktonic and epibenthic may represent extremes of a behavior continuum. Copepods were observed to swarm and mysids to school on the reef. Mysids and nesting pomacentrids exhibit a loosely developed commensalism. Offshore plankton probably represents a net energy gain to the reef.