We’re Reef Experts Now!

After learning about Ned Kelly and baking with our family, we left Melbourne and flew up North to sunny Cairns!  It was warm with beautiful beaches and lots of activities happening all over the place.  It is a really great place for relaxing and working on your tan.  🙂

But the main thing to see in Cairns is the Great Barrier Reef.  Who is the best person to tell you everything you have ever wanted to know about the Great Barrier Reef?  A marine biologist of course!  But wouldn’t it be even better if there was a class taught by a marine biologist who is also a captain of a boat which goes to the reef everyday?  Turns out, there is!

We went to a class called “Reef Teach” taught by marine biologist and boat captain Gareth.  He talked about all the amazing things we could see while diving or snorkelling on the reef.

The class was really neat because we got to hold pieces of coral which we wouldn’t be able to touch while on the reef.

Finger coral

Brain coral

Different types of coral and shells

Staghorn coral

We learned so much about the reef itself, its inhabitants, and the coral.

Reef Facts
– The reef is the biggest in the world which is why the word “great” is in the name
– The park is 348,000 square kilometres which is the size of Germany
– The reef works as a barrier from wind and waves
– The reef has been around for 8000 years and is the youngest on earth

Reef Creatures

There are many different creatures which call the reef home. The main inhabitants are fish. There are so many fish with different shapes and colours, it’s hard to keep track. In fact, there are around 1500 fish species living on the reef! Marine biologists are able to classify them by the body shape of the fish. There are:

• Oval shape (damselfish, surgeonfish, and rabbitfish)
• Torpedo shape (wrasse, parrotfish, and triggerfish)
• Disc shape (butterflyfish and angelfish)

There are also many really interesting facts about the different fish.

– There are 33 types of anemone fish (fish who live in anemone), but the top 5 are clownfish (Nemo), Clarke’s fish, tomato fish, spine cheek, and pink fish

– There are many types of damselfish which are mainly related to their colour. There is the white, black, lemon, blue-green, and chocolate dip (half white, half black) damselfish.

– “Dori” from the movie “Finding Nemo” is a surgeonfish. These fish will attack your face or camera if you get too close to their homes!

– A yellow-mask angelfish can live for up to 80 years.

Other big animals who live around the reef are whales and dolphins. There are 28 species of these animals. Humpback whales come to the Great Barrier Reef from Antarctica. Another rare whale, the dwarf minke whale, comes to the reef at the same time, so the reef is the only place in the world where scientists can predict their arrival.

There are, however, dangerous creatures living on the reef. These include lion fish, stone fish, stingrays, triggerfish, and sharks. Lion fish and stone fish are both poisonous and triggerfish have big teeth. Stingrays have their barbs in their tails and sharks can bite.

Interesting shark facts

– Stingrays are part of the shark family.

– White tip reef sharks are able to stop swimming and lie on the ocean floor so the tide brings water over their gills.

– 3 sharks are killed every second and 100,000,000 (100 million) are killed every year.

– Shark is eaten in a lot of countries with different names; it’s called “flake” in Australia and “cod” in the UK.

Reef Coral

The Great Barrier Reef is made up of thousands of coral formations. Did you know coral is an animal? They are made of little polyps which are upside down jellyfish! I had an encounter with jellyfish in Tanzania before, so I wouldn’t want to get stung again.  Coral gets their food from algae and photosynthesis because they like to grow close to the sun. Algae is also responsible for 90-95% of the coral colours.

There are two types of coral: hard and soft. There are many different types of coral which can be found on the reef mostly named after their appearance.

Hard coral
– Vase
– Finger
– Brain
– Plate
– Lunar
– Staghorn

Soft coral
– Lettuce leaf
– Elephant ear
– Whip
– Fire (has a bad sting)

A table of shells and starfish

Shelves of different types of coral

Coral has a very interesting way of reproducing. About 2-6 days after the first full moon in November, the coral releases many reproductive cells into the water where they meet with cells from other coral. The conditions of the environment around control when this happens. If the light, temperature, or tides aren’t right for the coral, nothing will happen. Did you know coral in captivity release their cells at the same time as the coral in the wild?

We learned a lot with Gareth and are now prepared to visit the reef. This has been the closest thing to a classroom we’ve attended this whole year.  Taking the Reef Teach class was the best thing to do because it prepared us for our trip to the Great Barrier Reef the next day.