The Straits of Tiran separate the Gulf of Aqaba from the Red Sea proper across a channel barely five kilometres wide at its narrowest point. Four named reefs—Jackson, Woodhouse, Thomas, and Gordon—rise from depths exceeding eight hundred metres to break the surface, their submerged plateaus forming natural amphitheatres where nutrient-rich currents converge. Egyptian and Israeli authorities designated the waters a protected marine corridor in 1983, limiting vessel traffic to daytime transits and certified tour operators. The conservation fee established in 2009 funds patrol boats and mooring-buoy maintenance that prevents anchor damage to the fragile table corals. Jackson Reef, the northernmost of the quartet, earned its name from a British cartographer's 1869 survey. Its eastern wall drops vertically to four hundred metres, creating upwelling zones where pelagic species—barracuda, tuna, reef sharks—hunt in coordinated packs visible from the surface. Soft corals dominate the shallower western plateau, their polyps extending during morning hours when plankton density peaks. The wreck of the Lara, a Cypriot freighter that struck the reef during a 1985 storm, rests in twelve metres of water on the southern tip, its hull now colonized by fire coral and serving as a cleaning station for humphead wrasse. Gordon Reef, three kilometres south, marks the site of the Louilla wreck, a cargo vessel grounded in 1981 that remains visible above the waterline. Prevailing northerly winds create a sheltered lee on the reef's western face, where visibility exceeds thirty metres on calm mornings. Marine biologists from Suez Canal University conduct seasonal counts here, tagging hawksbill turtles and monitoring bleaching events that have affected less than eight per cent of the hard-coral coverage since 2015. The reef's shallow lagoon, averaging four metres depth, hosts garden eels and blue-spotted stingrays that burrow into the sandy substrate. Tiran Island itself remains uninhabited aside from a seasonal Egyptian military observation post established after the 1979 peace treaty. Saudi Arabia formally ceded the island to Egypt in 2017, ending decades of territorial ambiguity. Tour vessels anchor offshore rather than at the island, as no permanent jetty exists and landing permits require diplomatic clearance. The island's arid geology—limestone outcrops and alluvial fans—supports minimal terrestrial flora, but its surrounding reefs represent the Red Sea's highest concentration of hard-coral genera per square kilometre, a figure unchanged since Jacques Cousteau's 1951 survey documented two hundred thirty-seven species.