What comes
to your mind when I say ‘Australia’? The mighty world champion cricket team of
past few decades, and a lot of sad evenings because of Indian cricket team’s
lost matches to them, right? The heart-breaking defeat of WC 2003 final is still etched in our minds, even after the WC win of 2011.
Their cricketing supremacy
over a span of so many decades raises no doubt. It got them a lot of haters,
especially Indian cricket fans, but that’s just another testament of their
achievements.
But while Indian
cricket team in touring England, why are we talking about Australia? The reason
is not cricket. Cricket is what we know most about Australia. Many of us can talk
about cricket stats for Ind-Aus encounters, in our sleep. So, we will not
talk about it today.
What we
will talk about instead, is another world champion stuff from Australia. The Great Barrier Reef. The Great
Barrier Reef located off the coast of Queensland, in the Coral Sea, is the largest
coral reef system in the world, spreading over 344,400 sq. kilometers and 2300-2600
kilometers in length.
What is coral reef and how is it formed?
Corals are
marine organism that are few millimeters in thickness and few centimeters in
length. The corals live in colonies of identical forms. These forms are referred
as polyps. Polyps secrete calcium
carbonate that holds the ‘colony’ structure together and forms the reef. Reefs
are ecosystems for many marine species, including corals, fish, works, sponges,
mollusks etc. Usually found at shallow depths in tropical waters, coral reefs
are also known to be found in deep waters.
All the
coral reefs in the world combined cover an area of about half the size of
France, which is around 0.1 percent of the total ocean surface of the world,
but they house around 25% of all the marine life.
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| Coral Reefs with fish |
Types of coral reefs:
Based on
their structure and vicinity to the coast, Darwin identified three basic types
of reefs.
Fringing Reef:
This is formed in shallow waters near the shore and is directly attached to the
shore, thus getting the name ‘shore reef’. This is the most common of all
types.
Barrier Reef:
A reef that is separated from coast or island shore by a deep channel or lagoon
(read here to know various water bodies, and lagoon) is called Barrier reef.
These are generally larger in size.
Atoll: Barrier
reefs that are circular and continuous are called ‘atoll’. These are usually
formed around an island that later erodes away.
Other types
are: Apron reef, bank reef, ribbon reef,
cays, patch reef, seamount etc.
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| an island with reef around it |
Nerd note 1: The great barrier reef is roughly same size as
Germany, Malaysia, Japan or Italy. It is larger than the UK, Holland and
Switzerland combined
Nerd note 2: The great barrier reef, is the world’s largest
structure made by any living creature. It is also visible from outer space.
Nerd Note
3: The great barrier reef alone makes up about 10 percent of the world’s total
coral reef ecosystem.
However,
the coral reef system, like any other natural system is not unaffected of human
existence on the planet. There are several environmental threats to the reef
systems throughout the world, major of which are coral mining, fishing, and pollution
of oceans. Shipping accidents and oil spills also impact the corals negatively.
Apart from human caused threats, there are few natural threats as well, like cyclone
and ‘crown-of-thorns’ starfish, a variety of starfish that preys upon corals.
Nature has
created many wonders and all of them have a reason as well as right to exist. WittyScribble
urges its readers to adapt a lifestyle that leaves cleaner footprint on the planet.
Less use of plastic, proper segregation of waste and preventing the dumping of
waste is water bodies are few small steps that can be taken to protect the
nature around us.
And as always,
thanks for reading.
Ayush!!!
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