Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of roughly 3,000 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres. The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland in northeast Australia.
The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area contains more than just coral reefs. It also contains extensive areas of seagrass, mangrove, soft bottom communities and island communities. Contrary to popular belief, the reef is not a continuous barrier, but a broken maze of coral reefs and coral cays. It includes some 2 800 individual reefs, of which 760 are fringing reefs. These reefs range in size from less than one hectare to more than 100 000 hectares, and in shape from flat platform reefs to elongated ribbon reefs.
The Great Barrier Reef provides habitats for many diverse forms of marine life. There are an estimated 1 500 species of fish and more than 300 species of hard, reef-building corals. More than 4 000 mollusc species and over 400 species of sponges have been identified.
Other well-represented animal groups include anemones, marine worms, crustaceans (prawns, crabs etc.) and echinoderms (starfish, sea urchins etc.).
The extensive seagrass beds are an important feeding ground for the dugong, a mammal species internationally listed as endangered.
The reef also supports a wide variety of fleshy algae that are heavily grazed by turtles, fish, sea urchins and molluscs.
The reef contains nesting grounds of world significance for the endangered green and loggerhead turtles. It is also a breeding area for humpback whales, which come from the Antarctic to give birth to their young in the warm waters.
The islands and cays support several hundred bird species, many of which have breeding colonies there. Reef herons, osprey, pelicans, frigate birds, sea eagles and shearwaters are among the numerous sea birds that have been recorded.
The World Heritage property is also of cultural importance, containing many middens and other archaeological sites of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin. Some notable examples occur on Lizard and Hinchinbrook Islands, and on Stanley, Cliff and Clack Islands where there are spectacular galleries of rock paintings.
There are over 30 historic shipwrecks in the area, and on the islands are ruins and operating lighthouses that are of cultural and historical significance.
