The ocean environment off southeastern Africa consists of a continental shelf region of diverse widths and an off-shelf circulation that is similarly multifaceted. These factors lead to a complex and as yet imperfectly understood coastal and shelf habitat for living organisms. To complicate this further, the coverage of the region by hydrographic and other investigations differs markedly. Some regions have been relatively thoroughly studied whereas in others no hydrographic or current observations of any kind have been made to date. The only attribute that connects the coastal oceans of this region is that they all belong to what may be considered to be the greater Agulhas Current system. This consists of the East Madagascar Current, the Mozambique Channel eddies and the Agulhas Current proper. In this paper I review current knowledge on the region from both a physical as well as a biological oceanographic point of view. Some of the most glaring gaps in our knowledge of the region are identified
