The Wonders of the Great Barrier Reef

Australia's coast line is home to one of the most beautiful wonders of the world, The Great Barrier Reef. This great reef is the worlds largest coral formations stretching a huge 1,161 miles, it is also made up of approximately 3,000 separate reefs and approximately 900 islands. It is the home to many different species of wild life, and is located off the coast of Queensland in Australia in the beautiful Coral Sea.

This wonderful structure is composed of billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps. The reef is a single structure and can be seen from outer space. To protect this great natural formation from over human usage, including tourism and fishing, Australia formed the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. However it is not only humans that are causes of disturbance in the great barrier reef but also environmental aspects play a huge part. Some of these pressures are climate change which can cause mass coral bleaching. The hot weather that changed the oceans temperature during 1998, 2002, and 2006 has lead to coral bleaching. Coral bleaching is the loss of color in the coral due to stress-induced expulsion of unicellular algae. sadly due to rising temperatures each year this is more likely to continue to happen each year. This natural occurrence may force many of the thousands of species to move from the reef and live and breed in different areas. However even with this damage that is caused each year, the reef never fails to bring in human interest. It is a popular place for scuba divers, taking boat trips out to the reef for instance, taking a ride on a glass-bottom boat for the day. Another attraction is snorkeling, for many visitors the outer parts of the reef are favored due to the clear water conditions, so the reefs beauty is seen clearly. Due to tourism the reef generates approximately over AU$4 billion annually, this amount seems to be rising with each year.

The current living reef is estimated to have started growing on older platforms approximately 20,000 years ago. Although many scientific studies have found coral deposits from over half a million years ago. However these coral deposits are not complete formations. The earliest known complete formations date back around 600,000 years ago.

The reef as it stands is home to thousands of different species of wild life. Some of which are endangered. There are around 30 different species of whale, dolphin and porpoises. 6 species of sea turtle come to the reef to breed in its clear waters. There are an amazing 200 different species of birds that live on the reef. Approximately 125 species of shark and stingray inhabit the reef. Some of the sharks include the whale shark, black-tip and white-tip reef shark, and also hammerhead sharks. It is teaming with more than 1500 species of fish, and almost 5000 species of mollusk. The coral include both soft and hard corals, with approximately 400 different types. Also hundreds of marine algae grow on this amazing reef. Not known to the northern part of the reef is the 17 species of sea snake, these are more commonly found in the southern part of the reef. The reef is a huge life formations which for obvious reasons attracts many tourists every year. You are always guaranteed a great trip due to all the amazing creatures that inhabit these waters.