A griant metre long wrasse, which changes from female to male when they mature.
I enjoyed snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef off shore from Cairns and also here around the Whitsundays. Technically the reef that surrounds the islands is the inner part of the Great Barrier Reef. The actual reef is about fifty miles out to sea. More on that later.
I
enjoyed swimming in the warm tropical waters of the Coral Sea and
snorkeling or scuba diving to see the life on the reef.
The
reef was beautiful in many places and there were lots of different
fish, but I was disappointed in some ways. Because of the water clarity it is not as beautiful and colourful as seen on TV programs largely because they use lights to illuminate the reef and bring out all the colours of the corals. Although I saw lots of
variety of healthy coral in lots of different colours, I still saw
evidence of bleaching and other signs of stress on the reef.
Bleaching is when the algae that lives in the coral either dies or
leaves the animal and the coral just appears white. They think this
is caused by the small change in sea temperature. Some of the reef
gets damaged by tourism, with suntan lotion pollution, snorkelers
kicking the formations and boats anchoring around it or crashing into
it. I also read that because of the deforestation happening on shore
that there is more erosion happening and more silt and runoff
entering the sea and suffocating the coral. With the speed at which
corals grow, especially to this size, it is really hard to see who
the damage can be reversed and new growth encouraged.
I
saw a wide variety of fish too but didn't see anything really
amazing. No sharks, rays, sea snakes, octopus, crabs, and only one
turtle. I confess to being disappointed by that. Part of the problem
is over fishing especially for sharks for shark fin soup. Reefs are
essentially islands of life with large oceans and distances between
them, so I wonder how fish found on the reefs of the Caribbean are
also found on the other side of the world on the Great Barrier Reef.
Everyone
is worried about the state of the reef, from David Attenborough and
all the marine biologists down to the people whose lives depend on
it. The Great Barrier Reef provides employment for thousands of
people in the tourism business. Everyone is saying to see it now
before it disappears. I'm glad I had the opportunity to do so.
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