What is the Great Barrier Reef?

About Great Barrier Reef:

• It is a complex of coral reefs, shoals, and islets in the Pacific Ocean off the northeastern coast of Australia in the Coral Sea.
• It is the longest and largest reef complex in the world and isthe largest living structure on Earth.
• It has an area of some 350,000 sq.km. It makes up about 10 percent of the world’s coral reef ecosystems.
• The reef, which is large enough to be visible from space, is made up of nearly 3,000 individual reefs. 
• These reefs are of two main types -platform reefs formed from radial growths, and wall reefs resulting from elongated growths, often in areas of strong water currents.
• There are also fringing reefs on sub-tidal rock of the main coastline or continental islands.
• It contains 400 types of coral, 1,500 species of fishes, and 4,000 types of mollusks species. 
• It also holds great scientific interest as the habitat of species such as the dugong (‘sea cow’) and the large green turtle, which are threatened with extinction.
• Much of the Great Barrier Reef is a marine protected area, managed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority of Australia.
• UNESCO declared the Great Barrier Reef a World Heritage Site in 1981.

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