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Friday, 28 June 2013

10 LARGEST CORAL REEFS IN THE WORLD


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10 Largest Coral Reefs in the World
By
Wonders World, 25 June 2013.

Coral reefs are the equivalent of underwater forests. Twenty-five percent of all marine life lives in coral reefs. The combination of plant life and colourful marine fish make coral reefs the vacation destinations among scuba divers. Larger coral reefs, such as the Great Barrier Reef, are actually made up of many smaller reefs that are connected into a single ecosystem.

10. Reed Bank, Philippines - 3,423 square miles (8,866 sq km)

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Image by Richard Ling/Wikimedia Commons

Reed Bank, Reed Tablemount, or Recto Bank is a large tablemount in the South China Sea. [The Reed Bank is located in the disputed Spratly Islands.] [More]

9. Great Chagos Bank, Maldives - 4,633 square miles (12,000 sq km)

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Image by Charles and Anne Sheppard/Wikimedia Commons

The Great Chagos bank is the second largest atoll in the world. It has a total area of more than 12,000 square kilometres. It is located in the Maldives. [More]

8. Saya Del Malha, Indian Ocean - 15,444 square miles (40,000 sq km)

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Image by Linda Wade/Wikimedia Commons

The Saya de Malha Bank in the Indian Ocean is the largest submerged bank in the world. This ridge connects the Seychelles and Mauritius islands along the Mascarene Plateau. Along with its coral reefs, the marine habitat includes feeding grounds for the green turtle and breeding grounds for blue whales. [More]

7. Zhongsha Islands, South China Sea - 50 miles (81 km)

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Image by Terry Hughes/Wikimedia Commons

The Zhongsha Islands [or Macclesfield Bank] is an atoll that is 50 miles long and has an area of 6,448 square kilometres. This atoll is claimed by the People's Republic of China, Taiwan and the Philippines.

6. Andros Coral Reef, Bahamas - 124 miles (200 km)

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Image by Tim Horton/Wikimedia Commons

The Andros Barrier Reef in the Bahamas stretches more than 124 miles. The island sits along the edge of an oceanic trench known as the Tongue of the Ocean. This means the reef extends downwards along the trench to a depth of 6,000 feet instead of lying flat along the ocean floor. [More]

5. Florida Reef, Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico near Florida - 200 miles (322 km)

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Image by Jstuby/Wikimedia Commons

The reef system around the coast of Florida stretches from the Atlantic ocean around to the Gulf of Mexico near Key West. This reef system is thought to be about 7,000 years old. It is 322 kilometres long. [More] [Video]

4. The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, Atlantic Ocean near Mexico - 585 miles (943 km)

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Image by Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez/Wikimedia Commons

The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System stretches along the eastern coast of Central America. From its northern point off the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico to the southern coast of Honduras, the reef reaches a total of 585 miles. [More] [Video]

3. New Caledonia Barrier Reef, Pacific Ocean - 932 miles (1,500 km)

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Image by NASA Earth Observatory/Wikimedia Commons

This coral reef is nearly 1,500 kilometres in length, near the former French colony of New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean. Some parts of the reef have been damaged by nearby nickel mining, but the overall health of this reef is sound. [More] [Video]

2. Red Sea Coral Reef, Egypt - 1,180 miles (1,900 km)

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The Red Sea Coral Reef off the coasts of Egypt, Israel and Saudi Arabia is approximately 5,000 to 7,000 years old. Ten percent of the 1,200 species found in this reef live only in this area. The Red Sea Coral Reef includes the Dahab Blue Hole, one of the most popular and dangerous dive sites in the world. [Video]

1. Great Barrier Reef, Australia - 1,553 miles (2,500 km)

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Image by Toby Hudson/Wikimedia Commons

The largest, and most famous, coral reef is the Great Barrier Reef. It is more than 2,500 kilometres long, has an area of 348,000 square km and is home to more than 400 marine species. It is also one of Australia's most prominent tourist attractions, but it is under threat from pollution and over fishing. [More] [Video]

Top image: Great Barrier Reef (via Anne Fontaine Foundation).

[Source: Wonders World. Edited. Top image and links added.]

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