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The Great Barrier Reef...
It is easy to experience this magic where animal and plant life is extravagant and brilliant colours of the coral forests and gardens are to be seen. The Outer Reef underwater visibility is consistently better than inshore because it is unaffected by the wind and waves. Many people not acquainted with the Reef fear sharks but attacks occur mostly in people's minds before they enter the water. An interesting statistic for peace of mind is that people have more chance of being hit by a bolt of lightening than being attacked by a shark. The Reef is home to an astonishing diversity and abundance of life forms. There are around 400 different types of hard and soft corals, about 4000 molluscs (clams and snails), and thousands of different sponges, crustaceans, worms, echinoderms (sea urchins, sea cucumbers, starfish) and other creatures. This variety of life forms provides a backdrop to some 1,500 species of fish. Corals grow mainly in the top 10 metres of water because of their need for sunshine. Corals need warm waters to grow in and their helpers, need light, just as land plants do. For this reason, reefs only develop well in warm, shallow and clear tropical seas. The reef is fast becoming a major tourist destination now providing tourists with access to reef areas, which ere visited by a privileged few. The reef is a place for enjoyment and relaxation where you can enjoy the beauty and strangeness of this natural world. To scientists, the Reefs are fascinating. They study weather, water currents, geology, chemistry plus plants and animals in an attempt to discover how this amazing system works. Reefs are graveyards of coral skeletons that have piled up over the last two million years to form huge underwater hills with a thin living coral veneer on the surface. There are three major Reef types. Ribbon Reefs are narrow walls on the edge o the Continental Shelf and form a broken barrier with passages between individual reefs. Some of these passages are large enough to allow ships to pass through. Fringing Reefs may develop off the sloping sides of the Continental Islands or along the Coast. Patch Reefs are often round or oval and grow like platforms on the Continental Shelf. |
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The
Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest reef measuring 2,011 klms
in length and 72 klms across the widest point. The Reef covers an area
greater than that of Victoria or Great Britain and is half the size
of Texas.