Why is the great barrier reef where it is
Great Barrier Reef | Exploring Oceans
from space the east coast of Australia
appears to be in the embrace of a giant
opal the largest living structure on
earth the Great Barrier Reef is a lacy
living wall spanning more than 2,000
kilometres of islands and submerged
reefs between the Queensland coast and
the western edge of the Pacific Ocean
diving in the opal seems to splinter
into millions of pieces whirlpools of
small metallic bluefish Barracuda
gliding like silver submarines
occasionally alone predatory shark
the Great Barrier Reef is like an
underwater city whose buildings are
alive with millions of small creatures
whose lives are intimately and
intricately connected
it is as diverse as a rainforest a
mosaic of more than 70 types of habitats
hosting thousands of species of marine
life as many as a hundred different
kinds of Carl may occupy a single acre
of ocean
molecule by molecule Carl animals
gradually extract calcium carbonate from
the surrounding water to form my newts
tawny cups around each animal soft crown
of tentacles some corals live in
solitary splendor but most are built
with hundreds sometimes thousands of
individual animals linked together to
form a single coral mound plate or
cluster of branches some are like little
trees and shrubs they provide food and
shelter for thousands of other forms of
life
Carl's get the credit for most of the
reef structure but much of the
construction is done by fast-growing
encrusting red algae they act like pink
glue cementing fragments of shale sand
and coral with sheets of calcium
carbonate
the reef is home to more than 4,000
kinds of mollusks from tiny sea slugs
neuter banks to giant clams
these intervals travel thousands of
miles in the open sea to reach the sandy
beaches of some of the Barrier Reef's
Islands and there to lay their eggs
hatchlings hit straight for the scene
they will travel thousands of miles over
the years and eventually return to lay
her own eggs established as a national
park in 1975 the Great Barrier Reef was
designated as a World Heritage Site
six years later today about 33% of it is
fully protected from fishing and other
extractive activities and efforts are
underway to deal with pollution
overfishing and the consequences of
climate change the Great Barrier Reef
appears to be about 20,000 years old but
geologists using deep coring techniques
found evidence of ancient carl's there
are half a million years old
CAIR future of Australia's living
treasure the Great Barrier Reef will be
at least as enduring as its magnificent
past
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