Life

**Life in the great Barrier Reef will never get old. Things are always changing, and new life is always created. The GBR is home to the worlds largest collection of coral (400 species), coral sponges, mollusks, rays, dolphins, tropical fish (1500 species), birds (200), and reptiles (20) like sea turtles and clams that are over 120 years old. Humpback Whales use the GBR for breeding grounds, and it is also a natural habitat for some endangered animals, including the Dugong (sea cow), and the Green Sea Turtle.**               <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; font-style: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> **There are many different kinds of reefs that hold different shapes. A barrier reef grows further out from the mainland, and sometimes the area in between the reef and the mainland will form a lagoon. An atoll reef is when the coral grows in a pyramid shape, and a lagoon forms in the center of the reef. Then smaller reefs form in that lagoon. A fringing reef is a reef that forms very close to an area of land or an island. A platform reef is when the coral reaches the surface of the sea, and the reef branches out and grows horizontally.** <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"> **<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"> ﻿ T <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-style: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">he GBR continues to grow, and maintain its size because of 2 main reasons. First of all, only the outside of coral colonies are living. The farther you get to the middle of the colony, the more dead coral there is. Coral forms on top of skeletons from previous coral colonies living there. The new coral will grow, live, die, and then new coral will grow on top of <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"> //that// coral. Its the way a reef works. The next way that the GBR maintains its size is because of predators. The Crown of Thorns Sea Star eats coral polyps to form a great population control. **

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"> **Coral Reefs take a long time to form. It all starts with a tiny spec called** **coral larvae.** T **he larvae stays in that form for about 30 days. Then the coral larvae then turns into a** **coral polyp** **. The polyp form of coral is the adult stage. The polyp starts to grow, using algae from the water to transform sunlight into food, and to get its fantastic color. This single coral polyp is very small, only the size of a pencil eraser. So to make up in size, the polyp multiplies to become a small section of coral, or colony. Then other coral forms around that colony, and coral reefs are formed.**  <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">**<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; font-style: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Back **