Coral recruitment to artificial substrata (ceramic tiles) was measured in shallow back-reef (1-2 m depth) and deeper fore-reef (8-10 m depth) habitats on the island of Moorea, French Polynesia. Recruitment to three patch types within each of those habitats was measured at 4 month intervals for 3 years. Recruitment rates did not differ between fore-reef and back-reef habitats nor between sites within a habitat when data for the 3 years of the study were combined. There was a strong effect of patch type within the back-reef habitat on patterns of coral recruitment. In the shallow back-reef habitat, recruitment was 2-6 times higher to tiles inside territories of the damselfish,Stegastes nigricans (Lacepede), than to tiles in patches characterized by heavy grazing (crustose-algal dominated) or high cover of fleshy algae (especially Turbinaria ornata (Turner) J. Agardh). This pattern was not seen on the fore-reef where other species of damselfish were present. Temporal patterns of coral recruitment in Moorea were characterized by large inter-annual variability, as well as seasonal variability. Mean recruitment rates ranged between < 1 and 16 recruits/tile (tile surface area was 486 cm 2 ) over the course of the study. A total of 2801 recruits were found on 939 tiles in 3 years. Highest recruitment rates occurred in the December to April period, which corresponds to the period of warmest water temperatures. Recruits in the family Pocilloporidae were found year-round, with a seasonal peak in the December to April period, and accounted for 63% of total recruitment over 3 years. Recruitment of acroporids followed the same pattern, but contributed only 5% to total recruitment. Poritids were also found year-round, but in highest relative proportion in the August-December period; recruitment of poritids accounted for 26% of the total over 3 years. Recruitment was highest in the first year of the study, with a large increase in recruitment immediately preceding a major coral bleaching event.