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| Introduction to the reef |
One of Australia's greatest assets is the magnificent reef that runs along virtually the entire coast of Queensland. Considered one of the world's natural wonders, it is the most extensive reef system and the biggest structure made by living organisms on earth. In the north, the reef is virtually continuous and is located only 50km (30mi) from the shore. In the south, individual reefs are more common, and in some places up to 300km (190mi) offshore. Hundreds of islands dot the reef area.
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The area abounds with wildlife, including Dugong and green turtles, varieties of dolphins and whales, more than 1500 species of fish, 4000 types of mollusc and more than 200 species of birdlife. The Great Barrier Reef system consists of more than 3000 reefs which range in size from 1 hectare to over 10,000 hectares in area. The reef is scattered with beautiful islands and idyllic coral cays and covers more than 300,000 square kilometres.
To find out where the reef is actually located, move your mouse over the map. |
Want some info on the towns near the reef? What are they called? Where are they? Click here!
The coral has, over the years, brought many ships to grief - Cook's own Endeavour hit the reef and almost foundered - if it had, and Cook and his crew had perished - Australian history would be quite a different story. One of the most famous wrecks is that of the HMS Pandora, which foundered in 1791. The Queensland Museum has been leading archaeological digs to the Pandora since 1983 and its most recent was completed in February 1999.
Want some more information? Check out these great websites!
The corals which make up the various reefs and cays, and which are the base for this variety of sea and animal life, consist of individual coral polyps - tiny live creatures which join together to form colonies. Each polyp is a tiny jelly-like blob crowned by tentacles, and looks not unlike an anemone, but much smaller. Each polyp lives inside a shell of aragonite, a type of calcium carbonate which is the hard shell we recognise as coral. The polyps join together to create forests of coloured coral in interesting fan, antler, brain and plate shapes.
There are many different types of Coral, some are slow growing and live to be hundreds of years old, others are faster growing. The colours of coral are created by algae. Only live Coral is coloured. Dead Coral is white.
So what else lives on the reef?
The great barrier reef is home to 1500 species of fish alone, and that's not even counting turtles, sea snakes, birds, snails, coral etc! So there's too much information for this website to give every possible creature that lives on the reef. However, we do feature some of the more 'famous' of these creatures. Below is a list of the names of the creatures, click on each name to be taken to a page that gives you all the info you could want!
- Jellyfish
- Snails, clams and octopuses
- Sea stars, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers
- Sharks and rays
- Snakes, turtles and crocodiles
- Dolphins, whales, seals and Dugong
What about the Islands around the great barrier reef?
There are a number of famous islands that dot the great barrier reef area, if you'd like to learn more about these islands, click here.