The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef in the entire planet. This humongous habitat is located in Australia, spreading along 1,600 miles in the state of Queensland. This incredible structure is considered as the largest living being of the world, with an area of about 135 million square miles, where different ecosystems can be found, formed by almost 1,000 islands and more than 2,000 reefs.
Great part of the reef is protected by the Marine Park of the Great Barrier Reef, where around 1,800 species of fish, over 5,000 types of mollusks, 400 species of corals, and other varieties of animals and marine life have been found. For this reason, the wonderful site was declared World Heritage in 1981, by UNESCO.
The extraordinary extension of the great barrier reef attract different types of cetaceans, such as the Minke dwarf whales, Humpback whales, and also great amounts of turtles, dugongs, dolphins, sharks and 200 species of birds. There are also numerous exemplars of amphibians and reptiles, such as seawater crocodiles, sea snakes and 2,195 classes of plants.
Coral islands “Lady Elliot” and “Lady Musgrave” are inside the green zone of the Great Barrier Reef. They are the first to welcome most of the visitors that have the privilege of visiting such a magical place. Many scuba divers visit this paradisiac place every day, from all parts of the world. They get there by ships that take off from “Bundaberg and Hervey Bay”.
Among the many islands, “Hinchibrook” can be highlighted by its great size, being one of the largest of this Great reef. In this fantastic place, many mangroves and beaches can be observed. However, the Australian Great Barrier Reef is at risk of disappearing, because a white color is covering great parts of it, it is a clear sign that global warming is damaging it.
Likewise, in some parts of the barrier, almost half of the corals have been lost, and one of the most spectacular marine zoos in the world has been destroyed, because the reefs have a symbiotic relationship with microscopic algae that give them some organic compounds along with oxygen, but with the high temperatures, this algae are left without pigmentation.
Also, the sea stars known as Crown of Spines, are consuming the corals daily. On the other hand, the irresponsibility of converting the Great Barrier in a dump of debris coming from the amplification of the port, located at the borders of the reef, is doing much harm, and the currents drag the remains of the corals towards the beaches.
With such a wonderful and beautiful place, one has to be aware of what is happening and, look after it and preserve it. It is a generous gift from God, which deserves to be enjoyed and admired by future generations.
ALFA