Reef Encounters of the Second Kind is an expansion set for Reef Encounter, introducing new creatures, opportunities and tactics to the basic game.

The crown of thorns starfish with their voracious appetites have now found the reef and will consume any corals that they can reach. Blue shrimps will assist host shrimps in protecting the larger corals, but these blue shrimps are notoriously unreliable. Meanwhile the polyp tiles now come in a variety of different forms and even the rocks are liable to change shape.

A selection of cards provides one off opportunities to influence the game, to introduce or to move the blue shrimps or to affect the scoring at the end of the game. An appropriate card is also required before a parrot fish can consume its first coral.