Essay On Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is a coastal habitat off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The system is the largest coral reef and living structure in the world, reaching around 2,575 in length. It’s made up of approximately 2,900 individual reefs with 900 islands. The Great Barrier Reef is the perfect habitat for many species of marine life such as coral and over one thousand five hundred species of fish. The reef contains many different life forms such as: fish, sea turtles, giant clams, sea snakes, nudibranch, stingray, sharks, seahorses, and numerous other species. The Great Barrier Reef also provides support to the ecosystem through its ability to form coral and allow other marine life to live among the coral. The reef is threatened through climate change. With rising temperatures the coral becomes stressed which leads to coral bleaching. The beautiful reef is an important contributor to the ocean’s ecosystem. The current Great Barrier Reef is approximately 500,000 years old, growing over …show more content…
Without the reef, many animals will eventually become extinct without proper conditions to mate and give birth in which the Great Barrier Reef sustains. Many species in the reef have yet to be discovered and properly named. The Great Barrier Reef is one of the richest and most complex natural systems on Earth because of the different animal species and coral that reside in the reef. The reef’s animals are an immense addition to biodiversity. The Great Barrier Reef is more than only fish and coral. It includes mollusks, worms, crustaceans, soft coral, sea pens, jellyfish, sponges, plankton, and many other creatures. The reason that so many aquatic animals live in coral reef systems are because the spits are the most diverse ecosystems in the world, with the ability to sustain the numerous creatures found around