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The Great Barrier Reef

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  Location: Queensland, Australia (off the coast) (Continent of Australia)
• Date created: Created over 20 million years ago. When old coral dies, new coral will grow on top of it, so it never stops growing
• Size: It is about 1,429 mi (2,300 km) long and 40 mi (65 km) wide & It is 82 ft (35 m) deep close to shore and 1.5 mi (2,000 m) on the outer reef
• Parts of the ocean floor the reefs are on were once dry land about 10,000 years ago, at the end of the Ice Age. When the glaciers started to melt, their waters flooded the area.
• The world’s most extensive coral reef system comprises over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands.
• 10% of the world’s fish inhabit (live in or around) the Great Barrier Reef.
• It can be seen from space because it is so big!
• The reef is the largest living structure made of animals on Earth.
• Coral is not a type of plant. They are animals. There are about 600 different species that help make up the reef.
• There are more than 30 species of whale, dolphin, and porpoise, 6 species of sharks, 6 species of turtle, 17 species of sea snake, 100 species of jellyfish, 220 species of birds, and more than 1,500 species of fish.
• You can go scuba diving in parts of the reef. Just be careful of the sharks.