The Great Barrier Reef is located in Australia; almost parallel to the Queensland coast, from near the southern coastal town of Bundaberg, up past the northern tip of Cape York.
As the world’s most extensive coral reef ecosystem, the Great Barrier Reef is a globally outstanding and significant entity. Practically the entire ecosystem was inscribed as World Heritage in 1981, covering an area of 348,000 square kilometres and extending across a contiguous latitudinal range of 14° (10°S to 24°S).
The reef contains the world’s largest collection of coral reefs, with 400 types of coral, 1,500 species of fish and 4,000 types of mollusc. 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.
Sadly, the Great Barrier Reef of Australia is pronounced dead by scientists after a long illness. It was 25 million years old. This year’s coral bleaching event has been noted to have caused the rapid decline of the Great Barrier Reef. Find out more at Morningnewsusa.com.