GREAT BARRIER REEF (1)

The Great Barrier Reef stretches for over 2000km along the coast of Queensland, from Fraser Island to beyond Cape York.

The Reef covers an area of about 350 000 square kilometres.

In the warm tropical waters of the Western Pacific Reef formation began about 40 to 50 million years ago. The Great Barrier Reef is therefore at most, 18 million years old. Today over 500 species of coral can be found in these waters.

There are 1500 species of tropical fish alone, plus a diverse sea life of sharks, rays, turtles, clams and many other types of tropical sea life. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest formation of coral reef in the world.

DIVING ON THE REEF.

People come from all over the world to dive on the Reef.

There are many diving school in the holidays.

It is estimated that on average, at any one time of the day there are over 1000 people snorkelling diving on the reef at one time

MARINE LIFE ON THE REEF.

There are hundreds of coral species, perhaps 2000 fishes, thousands of invertebrates and unknown numbers of microbes. Among the largest of the reefs creatures are the mammals. There are dozen or more whales and dolphins found in waters of the reef, the best known are the humpback whale the bottlenose dolphins, dugongs.

These ponderous creatures gather in herds to crop seagrass.

BEAU ZAICZ, Herberton, Queensland, Australia

References

Lester Cannon and Mark Goyen THE GREAT BARRIER REEF ANGUS AND ROBERTSON PUBLISHERS/WATER MARK PRESS, 1989

Picture from The Down Under Collection Delux, New Horizons, Armidale, Australia, 1995.