Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest reef system consists of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for more than 2,600 kilometers (1,600 miles) above the surrounding area of 344,400 square kilometers (133,000 sq mi). Coral is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland in north-east Australia.
Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world's largest single structure made by living organisms is composed of reef structure and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps .. Reef supports a diversity of life, and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981. CNN labeled as one of the world's seven natural wonders of the Queensland National Trust. icon named it the state of Queensland.
Most of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which helps to limit the impact of human use, such as fisheries and tourism. Other environmental pressures on reefs and their ecosystems, including runoff, climate change accompanied by mass coral bleaching, and cyclic population outbreaks of crown-thorns-starfish.
Great Barrier Reef has long been known and used by Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and is an important part of the culture of local groups and spirituality. Coral is a very popular destination for tourists, especially in the Whitsunday Islands and Cairns regions. Tourism is an important economic activity for the region, producing a AU $ 1 billion per year.
This is the peak tourist Belize popular destination for scuba diving and snorkeling and pulled her nearly half from 260,000 visitors, and vital to the fishing industry.
Charles Darwin described it as "the most remarkable reef in the West Indies" in 1842.
Belize Barrier Reef is home to a large diversity of plants and animals, one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world:
* 70 types of hard coral
* 36 species of soft corals
* 500 species of fish
* hundreds of species of invertebrates
With 90% of coral still need to be investigated, it is estimated that only 10% of all species have been found.
Located at the northwestern tip of the Bird's Head Peninsula on the island of New Guinea, in Indonesia, West Papua, Raja Ampat, or King Four, an archipelago of more than 1,500 small islands, cays and shelves around the four main islands Misool, Salawati , Batanta and Waigeo, and small island Kofiau. It covers more than 40,000 km ² of land and sea, which also contains Cendrawasih, the largest marine national park in Indonesia. This is part of the newly named West Papua (province) of Indonesia formerly Irian Jaya. The islands are the northernmost piece of land on the continent of Australia.
According to Conservation International, marine survey showed that the diversity of marine life in the area of Raja Ampat is the highest recorded on Earth this diversity. much larger than other regions such as the Coral Triangle of Indonesia, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. Coral Triangle is the heart of the world's biodiversity of coral reefs, making Raja Ampat is probably the richest coral reef ecosystems in the world.
Regional large coral colonies along with sea surface temperature is relatively high, also showed that the coral reefs which may be relatively resistant to threats like coral bleaching and coral disease, which now jeopardize the survival of coral reef ecosystems around the world. Raja Ampat islands are remote and relatively undisturbed by humans.
The diversity of the high seas in Raja Ampat is strongly influenced by its position between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, as the coral and fish larvae more easily shared between the two oceans. Raja Ampat's coral diversity, resilience, and its role as a source of spread of the larvae makes it a global priority for marine protection.
1309 species of fish, 537 coral species (a remarkable 96% of all scleractinia recorded from Indonesia are likely to occur on islands), and 699 species of mollusks, a surprising variety of marine life. Some areas boast a large school of fish and regular sightings of sharks, such as wobbegongs.
Andaman Sea is located on the east bank of the Indian Ocean, the west is bordered by the arc of islands stretching from North Sumatra to the Irrawaddy delta. Coral reefs are abundant in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (India), Mergui Archipelago (Myanmar), Thailand and Malaysia's west coast and northwestern Sumatra (Indonesia). Most never been visited by scientists because of political constraints, so that this region is one of the most studied areas of coral reefs in the world. Many inshore reefs occur in tidal and turbid settings, while the offshore coral reefs in the waters clearer. Regardless of the severity of physical, high coral cover and generally display a high diversity of corals. Andaman Sea has a complex geological history, sea floor topography varies, a highly dynamic oceanographic and large tidal range (2-5 m) combined with periodic sea surface depression. It is also a major sink for sediments from the Irrawaddy, the fifth largest river in the world in terms of suspended sediment load. Man-made influence is limited; sedimentation from land reclamation and dredging is a major negative factor although sea surface temperatures is a major threat. Nature of damage results from exposure to air at low tide, negative sea level anomalies, earthquakes and tsunamis. The dynamic nature of the Andaman Sea and stress resilience of the built-in many shallow-water reef areas can lead to a 'protection' is important during the era of global warming.
Coral barrier reef is the third largest in the world. These extend the distance of 142 miles along the east coast of Andros Island. It separates Andros from the tongue of the sea two thousand-foot drop-off point in the sea. Barrier reef is about one half mile from the beach. Some of the most diverse marine creatures can be seen here. Not only the beautiful cliffs, are very sensitive to environmental conditions. Water temperature should remain around 74 degrees for the coral to survive.
Coral reefs throughout consisting of heads, and to demonstrate biodiversity in coral barrier, a study done to see what was found in ten foot diameter coral head. The following is a list of fish and coral reefs found in the head.
Red Sea coral reefs are found throughout the northern Indian Ocean basin. Most of the Red Sea coast is surrounded by shelves of large shallow sea that supports a wide edge of the reef system, which is by far the main dominant species of coral reefs found here.
Reef platform is more than 5000 years, and extend along about 2,000 km (1240 miles) of coastline. Most consist mainly of branching corals from the genera Acropora and Porites.
Some fringing reef system grew directly from the shoreline (see photo, left).
In such cases, more active coral reef grows from the face are connected to shore by a very shallow reef flat contains scattered small colonies of living coral.
In other areas fringing reef system is getting rather far from the beach, and attach a well-developed protected back reef zone (lagoons), complete with coral patches, seagrass, and mangrove.
Many offshore islands are surrounded by tiny little coral reefs are present in some areas. Red Sea also contains many offshore coral reefs against the classical categorization of types of coral.
Included in this category, capturing all is a ring-like coral atolls, coral mountains sweep the sudden rise of a fairly large depth on both sides, and the pattern of typical reef complex odd shape (see photo, left: Courtesy of NASA).Like the Red Sea coral reef formations that are almost certainly the result of active force and unusual tectonic who has worked here for thousands of years and continue today.
There are some true atoll in the Red Sea (some off the coast of Sudan), but there is no true coral reef barrier.
Red Sea coral reefs have developed unusually high tolerance to extreme temperatures, salinity, and turbidity occasionally (which is caused by large seasonal dust storms) that occur in the region. Conditions that would kill or severely damage most hard corals are found in other parts of the Indo-Pacific region or in the Caribbean.
Water clarity is exceptional because of the lack of river discharge and low rainfall did not lead to dissipation of the suspension and fine sediments such as those found in many other parts of the tropical oceans of the land border.
Red Sea coral reefs are particularly well developed in northern and central parts (off the coast of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan), a large complex with a large coral reef offshore contains many islands, fringing reefs, and coral reef habitats (see photo , above).Farther south, a little coral growth is inhibited by the inclusion of nutrient laden water where the Indian Ocean into the Red Sea. This surface water is more southern regions are also subject to much greater mixing with more water caused by strong winds coming from a high mountainous coast.
In general, marine biota of the Red Sea coral reefs are characterized by high endemism. For example, from 1200 or more species of coral reef fish are recorded, about 10% are endemic (found nowhere else).
About 300 species of hard corals have been recorded from the Red Sea as a whole. Egypt beach itself supports some 200 species of reef building owned nearly 50 genera. This represents about four times the diversity of hard corals are found on Caribbean reefs, and coral diversity comparable to that found in the Maldives and Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.
However, biodiversity is not the Red Sea coral reefs rivals that the richest part of the Indo-Pacific region
