The Great Barrier Reef is one of the greatest systems of coral reefs that lies off the northern shores of Australia in the Coral Sea. The reef stretches for more than 2.5 kilometers and covers an area of almost 3.5 square kilometers. It consists of 2900 reefs and another 900 islands, which are clearly visible even from outer space.
What is famous for the Great Barrier Reef?
The Great Coral Reef is the largest formation created by living beings. It is formed by billions of tiny microorganisms - coral polyps. Officially, this reef is one of the wonders of the world and an object of world heritage. You can get to the big barrier reef by flying to Australia and sailing on a boat or flying by helicopter from Gladstone.
The reef extends off the coast of Australia, starting from the tropic of Capricorn and ending in the Torres Strait, which separates Australia from New Guinea. Closest to the shore, a coral reef approached the northern part of Cape Melville. They are separated by some 30-50 km. But on the south side the reef sort of splits into several groups of reefs, and in some places the distance to the shores of Australia reaches 300 km.
And it is here that thousands of divers dive annually. In general, the Great Barrier Reef and diving are not inseparable. It is difficult to describe in words what beauties will appear before you if you decide to dive into the water near the islands of the Great Barrier Reef.
Inhabitants of the Great Barrier Reef
It is unlikely that there will be another place in the whole world where such biological diversity would be collected simultaneously. Such a rich underwater world can not be found - there are thousands of different creatures that can impress with their exquisite beauty, unearthly fantasy, and sometimes with lightning-fast deadliness.
To study the flora and fauna of the Great Barrier Reef, scientists and just amateur divers will be for a long time, because the underwater world here is simply incredibly rich. There are only varieties of corals - more than 400. They all differ in shapes, colors and shades, reminiscent of a magical garden. The most common colors here are orange, red in different shades, yellow, white, brown, and sometimes you can find lilac and purple corals.
In this truly gigantic coral complex, more than 1,500 species of marine fish, 30 species of whales and dolphins, 125 species of sharks and rays, and 14 species of snakes have found shelter. And this is not to mention about 1,300 species of crustaceans, 5,000 species of mollusks and, of course, 6 species of turtles. Turtles of the Great Barrier Reef - this is a completely unique sight, once you see it, you will remember for the rest of your life.
In addition, over 200 species of birds flock to the reefs. Here they find quite comfortable conditions for their existence.
The threat of a coral reef
With a huge flow of tourists, big financial profits come here, but there are also negative sides to such tourist activity. The constant intervention in the life of coral reef by humans leads to inevitable destruction of the entire complex.
Taking into account these negative consequences, the government of the country took a number of necessary measures to minimize harm to the ecosystem, and still it is impossible to completely prevent harm from a person.
But in addition to human influence on the reef, threats are threatened by nature itself. For example, fading leads to the death of corals in colossal amounts. And this phenomenon is caused by the global warming of the waters of the World Ocean.
In addition, the Great Barrier Reef causes a lot of damage to tropical hurricanes. However, the most important enemy of the reef is a starfish called the "crown of thorns", which can reach 50 cm and feed on coral polyps.
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