The Great Barrier Reef is not one continuous reef, but made up of over 2900 reefs and 900 islands. It is the largest reef structure and marine park in the world. So large in fact that it is visible from the moon!

The GBR is approximately 2300 km (1300 miles). It begins near Papua New Guinea in the north, and continues south along the Queensland coast to Bundaberg (just north of Brisbane).

The area covered is approximately 35 million hectares - that’s  about 70 million football fields!
Length
Approx. 2,300km
Width
24 -
240km
Area
Approx. 35m hectares
A complex geological history
The Great Barrier Reef first began to grow about 18 million years ago. Since this time, various geological events, such as Ice Ages and low seawater levels have interrupted reef growth.

The reefs we see today have grown on top of older reef platforms during the last 8,000 years - since the last Ice Age.The Great Barrier Reef has some of the highest marine life diversity in the world, including over:
Diverse marine life
The Great Barrier Reef has some of the highest marine life diversity in the world, including over:
450
Hard Coral
Species
1,500
Fish
Species
4,000
Mollusc Species
There are more different species of animals and plants in a cubic metre of the Great Barrier Reef than in any other environment in the world – including tropical rainforests. In fact, some reefs in the Great Barrier Reef have more different fish types than in the entire Caribbean Ocean.
Approximate Number of Species
Type of Animal
Great Barrier Reef
Caribbean
World
Fish
1,500
900
13,000
Turtles
6
4
7
Sea Snakes
15
0
52
Whales & Dolphins
26
22
75
Hard Corals
450
50
1260
Snails & Clams
4,000
1,200
100,000
Giant Clams
6
0
9
Nudibranchs
350
130
1,550
Sea Stars
100
18
1,800
Sea Cucumbers
115
25
1,400

For more information visit our Quicksilver Group environmental team at Reef Biosearch