Over 5,653 species of animals live in the Great Barrier Reef. This includes 1625 species of fish, 3000 species of molluscs, 630 varieties of echinoderm, 14 types of sea snakes, 215 species of birds, 6 species of marine turtle, 30 species of whales and dolphins, 133 species of sharks and rays, and the rare dugong.
How many plants live in the Great Barrier Reef?
The Great Barrier Reef, which extends for over 2,300 kilometers (1429 miles) along the northeastern coast of Australia, is home to over 9,000 known species . There are likely many more—new discoveries are frequently being made, including a new species of branching coral discovered in 2017.
How many animal species live in the Great Barrier Reef?
The Great Barrier Reef is home to more than 1,500 species of fish , 411 types of hard coral, one-third of the world's soft corals, 134 species of sharks and rays, six of the world's seven species of threatened marine turtles
What animals and plants live in the Great Barrier Reef?
The Great Barrier Reef is home to many types of life, including fish, sea turtles, giant clams
What plants live in the Great Barrier Reef?
Mangrove trees , Seagrass and algae are three plants in the Great Barrier Reef , but there are a lot , a lot , a lot more plants in the incredible and magnificent Reef! The roots are tangling under the water. This is How the Reef was Created!
Is coral a plant or an animal?
Though coral may look like a colorful plant growing from roots in the seafloor, it is actually an animal . Corals are known as colonial organisms, because many individual creatures live and grow while connected to each other. They are also dependent on one another for survival.
How many corals live in the Great Barrier Reef?
About 600 different types of coral can be found in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, and all of them come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colours. Despite looking like plants, these corals are actually colonies of very small animals called coral polyps which are closely related to jellyfish.
How do plants survive in the Great Barrier Reef?
In order to withstand strong ocean waves, seagrasses have special roots that grow horizontally and spread out. These roots are called rhizomes, and they keep seagrasses anchored so the plants don't get uprooted and float away when the currents in the water are strong.
What animals live in the Great Barrier Reef list?
The Great Barrier Reef is a refuge for many species of conservation concern. These species of conservation concern include inshore dolphins, whales, dugongs, sawfish, sea snakes, marine turtles
How do animals survive in the Great Barrier Reef?
In a coral reef, fish and other animals can hide from larger predators , like sharks, because they have small, flat bodies. Coral reefs have lots of cracks and crevices. The small, flat bodies of coral reef fish allow them to move quickly and make sharp turns at the last second to escape predators.
Do dolphins live in the Great Barrier Reef?
Around 30 species of whale and dolphin
Can coral feel pain?
“I feel a little bad about it,” Burmester, a vegetarian, says of the infliction, even though she knows that the coral's primitive nervous system almost certainly can't feel pain , and its cousins in the wild endure all sorts of injuries from predators, storms, and humans.
Can you eat coral?
* Alas, nobody eats coral , even as a snack. Yes, people eat sea anemones and jellyfish, but they would have to be seriously, deliriously, Castaway hungry to eat a coral. Or else corals would have been gone long ago... But, this does NOT mean coral is without natural enemies.
Is coral a fish?
And unlike plants, corals do not make their own food. Corals are in fact animals. The branch or mound that we often call “a coral” is actually made up of thousands of tiny animals called polyps. A coral polyp is an invertebrate that can be no bigger than a pinhead to up to a foot in diameter.
Can coral be black?
Black corals are found all over the world and at all depths . Typically, however, they are known as deep-sea corals and can be abundant in certain areas. Black corals are rarely black, but rather vary in color from white to red, green, yellow, or brown.
Is it illegal to take coral from the Great Barrier Reef?
Unfortunately, it is illegal to take coral from the reef without a permit . ... The reef itself, which covers the biggest coral structure in the world, is a nature preserve protected by Australian and international laws.
