Territory

General Facts
Australia has a landmass of about 7.6 million square kilometres, on the Indo-Australian Plate. The surrounding oceans are the Indian and the Pacific. Australia is the world’s smallest continent, but is also the world’s biggest island. It has about 34 thousand kilometres of coast and has an extensive Exclusive Economic zone of about 8 million square kilometres. This includes the Great Barrier Reef.

The Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is probably the best known coral reef in the world. It also is, by far, the biggest. It is composed of about 2,900 compounds of coral, and measures an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres. A huge part of the reef is protected, to avoid damage done to the reef. Thirty different species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises life in the reef. On top of that, more than 1,500 fish species live on the reef, including the clownfish. Forty-nine species mass spawn, while eighty-four other species spawn elsewhere in their range. And finally, seventeen species of sea snakes life here. None found in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area are endemic, nor are any endangered.