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GREAT BARRIER REEF, Australia...
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park ( GBRMP )
begins at the tip of Cape York in Queensland
and extends south past the Tropic of
Capricorn almost to Bundaberg. It's area is
larger than Victoria and Tasmania combined,
covering an area of approximately 345,400km2
and stretching more than 2,300 km along the
northeast coast of Australia.
The Great Barrier Reef is one of the richest
and most complex ecosystems in the world.
Marine life in the GBR is diverse with
approximately :
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1,500 species of fish
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360 species of hard coral
-
1/3 of the world's soft
coral
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The GBRMP contains more than 900 islands, of
these, 618 are continental islands. The park
has 300 coral cays of which 230 are
permanently vegetated. The remainder are
small, bare sand cays that shift in response
to winds, waves and currents.
The Continental shelf provides the platform
from which the reefs of the GBR develop.
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