The Great Barrier Reef is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet!
The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system composed of over 2900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 1400 miles over an area of 133,000 sq. miles. The reef is located in the Coral Sea off the coast Queensland, Australia.
While the reef itself is technically just the coral, the reef supports a diversity of life. In this post I wanted to focus strictly on the fish of the reef. Part 2 of the Great Barrier Reef will be solely on the coral of the reef and will be posted on Tuesday.
The Great Barrier Reef supports a great diversity of life, including some species that are only found in this reef system. The wildlife that lives in the Great Barrier Reef are:
• 30 species of whales, dolphin and porpoises
• 17 species of sea snakes
• 6 species of sea turtles
• 125 species of sharks, stingrays, skates and chimaera
• 9 species of seahorse
• 215 species of birds live on the islands with approximately 1.5 million birds nest on the islands.
• More than 1500 species of fish live on the Great Barrier Reef system.
While there are an amazing amount of wildlife that lives off the Great Barrier Reef, the focus of this post is on the fish that live within the reef. Obviously I can only feature a small number of the fish that live in the reef because I was only able to spend one day snorkeling and diving on the reef. While I did get a chance to see many species of fish, the fish that I was able to get nice photos of are shown below.
The fish that I saw while diving are:
Two spot red snapper
Giant King fish
Yellowtail Fusilier
Humphead Maori
The fish that I saw while snorkeling are:
White tip Reef Shark
Scissortail Sargent
Rainford’s Butterflyfish
Six bar Wrasse
Indo-Pacific Sargent
Blue Lined Surgeon
Six Banded Angelfish
Pacific Sailfin Tang
Blacktailed Snapper
Sheephead Parrotfish
The Great Barrier Reef is amazing and being able to experience it is truly a blessing even if it is just for a day.
The Dust on My Shoes
Experiencing the Great Barrier Reef was one of my lifetime dreams. As a kid, I watched the adventures of Jacques Cousteau diving in places around the world and seeing all of the amazing sea life. The thought of me snorkeling and diving in the Great Barrier Reef was dream that I thought could never happen but I kept that dream on my wish list and eventually my dream became reality. My experience on the Great Barrier Reef did not let me down, it was every bit as wonderful as I had hoped and more.
The Great Barrier Reef is known as being the top place on earth for experiencing sea life for a reason, it is spectacular! The fish are beautiful, there are so many different kinds of fish with a wide variety of shapes, sizes, colors and patterns. The coral is just as amazing, there are many types of coral living side by side. Everywhere I looked there was something amazing and beautiful to see.
Sometimes dreams do come true! Now my hope is that I will be able to relive that dream and go again!
Our dreams in life are the motivation that gives us hope for our future. Many times our dreams can become reality but only if we don’t give up on the dream!
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