Australia contains the Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef system.
The reef lies in the Coral Sea off Queensland's northeastern coast and extends for about 2,300 kilometres. It includes roughly 2,900 individual reefs and about 900 islands, making it a vast network rather than one continuous wall of coral.
The Great Barrier Reef became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981. It supports thousands of marine species, including corals, fish, sea turtles, and dugongs. Coral bleaching, driven mainly by unusually warm seawater, has caused serious damage in several periods. The reef is sometimes confused with the Belize Barrier Reef, but the Great Barrier Reef is much larger.