Top 10 Facts about the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

By Toby Hudson – Wikimedia

Top 10 Facts about the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the most well-known, most beautiful and most sought-after locations. This reef spreads from Cape York to Queensland.

Did you know that this is the largest living organism in the entire world? Well, now you know. It is without a doubt the most iconic natural landmark in continental Australia.

It is made up of over 3000 individual reefs, coral cays and beautiful tropical islands, not forgetting the idyllic beaches.

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven wonders of the world, and you guessed it right, a protected UNESCO World Heritage site.

This natural beauty attracts millions of tourists from all over the world each year.

There is more about this great natural wonder. Here are the top 10 facts about the Great Barrier Reef.  

1. It is made up of several UNESCO sites

The Great Barrier Reef is divided into 70 World Heritage bioregions and 30 reef bioregions. On the northern part of the great reef are the ribbon reefs and deltaic reefs.

A newly discovered reef of about 500 metres tall and 1.5 kilometres long was found in the northern area in 2020.

This Great Barrier Reef is part of the Seven Natural Wonders of the world. This reef has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981.

2. The Great Barrier Reef is massive

By Luka Peternel – Wikimedia

This reef stretches for over 2,300 kilometres along the larger part of the Queensland coast. This is the only largest living organism in the entire world.

What is more amazing about this reef is that it can be seen from space. Scientists say that if put together it is larger than two Australian States.

The reef is made up of 900 islands and 3,000 separate reefs. It is also home to different animals, fishes, plants and other minute organisms.

3. The marine life at the Great Barrier Reef is vast

By Toby Hudson – Wikimedia

About 10% of fish species in the world are found at the Great Barrier Reef. Some of these fishes are snappers, wrasse, coral trout, dugongs, whales and dolphins.

There are more than 6 different species of sea turtles, 215 bird species and 5,000 types of mollusc, not to mention sea snakes, sharks and rays.

One will also find colourful butterflyfish, angelfish, surgeonfish, parrotfish and clownfish popularly nicknamed Nemo.

4. The Great Barrier Reef is 500,000 years old

An English explorer, Captain James Cook, spent six weeks repairing his ship after they struck the reef during his expedition.

Scientists discovered that the reef has been around for more than half a million years. It was formed when the seawater temperatures increased allowing the coral to breed.

Each year, the corals grow at about 1-25 centimetres on dead older cells.

The corals rose to sea level about 20,000 years ago and this allowed the formation of cays and reefs.

There are shallow-water reefs that can be seen from satellite images that cover about 80% of former limestone relics of older reefs.

5. The Great Barrier Reef is alive

By Toby Hudson – Wikimedia

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living organism on the planet. It stretches all the way to the Queensland coast. This is also the largest coral reef in the world.

Corals are formed by tiny creatures known as polyps. These organisms have sac-like bodies with tentacles.

These corals form from calcium and carbonate ions from the seawater which hardens the outer layer, hence protect their inner soft bodies.

The survival of the coral polyps is based on their relationship with the algae inside them. These algae absorb light from the sun and in return feed the corals.

It is the algae that give the corals their vibrant colours.

6. The greatest threat to the Barrier Reef is climate change

One of the greatest threats to this reef is climate change. This is mainly caused by ocean warming which in turn increase coral bleaching.

Between 1998 and 2020, a large part of the coral reef was bleached due to marine heatwaves during the summer.

This is sadly expected to be an annual occurrence due to global warming. The constant bleaching has caused detrimental ecological effects on the reefs.      

7. Pollution is another threat to marine life at the Great Barrier Reef

Photo sourced from Wikimedia

Another key threat to the Great Barrier Reef is pollution and declining water quality.

This is caused by the rivers of northeastern Australia that pollute the Reef during tropical flood events. Most of the water comes from farm overflows.  

Intensive farming happens around the Great Barrier Reef such as sugarcane farming and beef farming.

The fertilizers increase the number of phytoplankton available for the crown-of-thorns starfish larvae to consume.

8. Australian Aboriginals have lived in the area for more than 400 centuries

The Great Barrier Reef has been used by the Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples for centuries.

Aboriginal Australians have lived in the area for at least 40,000 years, while the Torres Strait Islanders have been here for more than 10,000 years. It is an important cultural feature of more than 100 clans.

9. Six species of sea turtles come to the reef to breed

There are different species such as green sea turtle, leatherback sea turtle, hawksbill turtle, loggerhead sea turtle, flatback turtle, and olive ridley.

Some of these turtles are genetically distinct to the Great Barrier Reef. 

Saltwater crocodiles also live-in mangrove and salt marshes on the coast near the reef. Their population is however low.

10. The Great Barrier Reef became a marine park in 1975 marine park

By Ciambue – Wikimedia

The reef is home to a lot of species and is very important for the environment. It became a marine park in 1975.

This reef is now under the management of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, along with Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.

The park management has helped reduce damaging human activities on the reefs.