Marine protected areas around the world are failing to protect most of the evolutionary diversity of the world's coral and fish, a new study has found.

The study into marine parks was conducted by an international team of researchers and found marine protected areas were not adequately protecting the evolutionary history of corals and fish, which stretches back 7,160 million years and 3,586 million years respectively.

Ninety per cent of the world's coral reefs don't have adequate protection, a study has found. Credit:Rostislav Ageev

These figures may seem outlandish, but there are in fact true numbers, describing the accumulative amount of evolutionary time, and not the absolute amount.

For example 7,160 million years is the accumulative amount of evolution experienced by all the organisms in the particular tree.