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The Amazon Reef (also referred to as the Amazonian Reef) is an extensive coral and sponge reef system, located off the coast of French Guiana and northern Brazil. It is one of the largest reef systems in the world known to exist, with scientists estimating its length to be over 600 miles (970 km) long, and covering over 3,600 square miles ...
A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. [1] Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Coral belongs to the class Anthozoa in the animal phylum Cnidaria, which includes sea anemones and ...
While it covers only 1.6% of the planet's oceanic area, the region has 76% of all known coral species in the world. As a habitat for 52% of Indo-Pacific reef fishes and 37% of the world's reef fishes, it contains the greatest diversity of coral reef fishes in the world [17] More than 3,000 species of bony fish are distributed over more than 90% of the Coral Triangle.
Florida's Coral Reef, the only coral reef system in the continental United States and the third-largest barrier reef ecosystem in the world, is a shallow-water reef. This deep-sea one is ...
The Bonaire National Marine Park or BNMP is one of the oldest marine reserves in the world. It includes the sea around Bonaire and Klein Bonaire from the high water line to a depth of sixty meters (approximately 200 feet). The park was established in 1979 and covers 2700 hectares (6700 acres) and includes a coral reef, seagrass, and mangrove ...
Aerial view of Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia, the largest fringing coral reef in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Fringing reefs are located near shore in the tropics in many areas and are the most common reef type. Coral reefs are found in the tropics in which the water is between 18 and 30 °C (64 and 86 °F). [6]
The Cozumel reef system is part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, the second largest coral reef system in the world. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] Even though almost the entire island of Cozumel is surrounded by coral reefs , the park only encompasses the reefs on the south side of the island.
Kimbe Bay is the home of more than 860 coral reef fish species. [2] Because of a massive die-off of coral worldwide due to pollution, human activities, and global warming , Kimbe Bay has become increasingly important, since it is seen as one of the last holdouts for coral should the degradation continue.