Great Barrier Reef Facts & Figures:
- The Great Barrier Reef is classed as the single largest living organism in the world, spanning a total distance of over 2300km from the Torres Strait in the North to Bundaberg in the South
- The Great Barrier Reef is comprised of over 900 individual islands
- The widest sections of the Great Barrier Reef reach over 65 kilometres at their largest areas
- Over 1500 species of tropical Fish, 400 different types of Coral, 200 types of Birds and 20 types of Reptiles are just some of the lifeforms which inhabit the reef
- The Great Barrier Reef is one of the few Australian features that can be seen from space
- The Great Barrier Reef is a UNESCO World Heritage area and listed as one of the “Seven Natural Wonders of the World”
- The Great Barrier Reef covers an overall area that is larger than the size of Italy
- The Great Barrier Reef draws over a million international visitors each year
- In terms of the Australian economy, the Great Barrier Reef alone generates over 6 billion dollars worth of revenue per year
- The depth of the reef ranges from depths of 35 metres inshore to depths of 2000 metres on the outer reef.
- Around 10 percent of the world’s total fish species can be found just within the Great Barrier Reef T
- The coral of the Great Barrier Reef has gradually been destroyed in recent years by a pest known as the Crown of Thorns Seastar, a marine organism that eats Coral Polyps
- The Great Barrier reef is the largest reef in the world
- The Great Barrier Reef is larger than the entire country of Italy put together
- Astronauts can see the Great Barrier Reef from the moon
- The Great Barrier Reef is the size of about 70 million football fields!
- Recycling is a great way to help places like the Great Barrier Reef stay beautiful and its fish stay healthy
- Over 1500 kinds of fish live in the Great Barrier reef. The smallest fish is called the Stout Infant Fish which is only 7 millimetres long, and the biggest is the whale shark which can grow up to 12 metres long!
- The Great Barrier Reef is beautiful but also contains some of the deadliest animals in the ocean, including Box Jellyfish, the Blue Ringed Octopus, and Stone Fish
- The popular Disney/Pixar character Nemo is based on the Anemone Fish (or Clown Fish), which can be seen all over the Great Barrier Reef and look great in photos!
- Many people call the Great Barrier Reef one of the “7 Natural Wonders of the World”. Other natural wonders include the Grand Canyon in America, Mount Everest (the tallest mountain in the world), and the Aurora (the colourful lights in the sky in the very north areas of the planet) – so the Great Barrier Reef is in some good company and very famous!
Click this link if you’d like some more information on the fish of the Great Barrier Reef!