The Great Barrier Reef Sara Simeoni

the size and age of the Great Barrier Reef

The size of the Great Barrier Reef

The Environment (coral) and disasters

the age of the Great Barrier Reef

It has been reported that the Great Barrier Reef is 2,300 kilometres long and is bigger than italy!

It has been estimated that the Great Barrier Reef is 20,000,000 years old!

Coral in the Great Barrier Reef

disasters

there are 600 types of corals (hard and soft coral). Coral may look like plants, but they are not. Corals are actually colonies of very small animals called coral polyps which are closely related to jellyfish.

The Great Barrier Reef has experienced two mass coral bleaching events in 1998 and 2002. Bleaching was more severe in 2002, when aerial surveys showed that over 50% of reefs experienced some coral bleaching. Bleaching is natural and generally happens when there is a cyclone or other events that are similar. Bleached Corals continue to live.

The Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef

By Sara Simeoni

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Number of species in the Great Barrier Reef

It has been recorded that there are 1,500 types of fish,134 species of sharks and rays, six marine turtles and 30 marine mammals including the dugong