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great barrier reef

Great Barrier Reef Coral Australia - Free photo on Pixabay

The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is home to more than 1,500 species of fish, 411 species of coral, along with dozens of other species. But since 1995, it's lost more than half of its corals due to warmer waters and climate change. Recently, one of those pieces of coral has been found. And it's big. It's 1,600 feet tall, to be exact, making it taller than the Empire State Building.

Not only that, but the coral is healthy and thriving. The coral has a healthy ecosystem and a "blizzard of fish," lead scientist Dr. Robin Beaman said per Reuters. "We are surprised and elated by what we have found."

Even better, the coral didn't show any evidence of damage, even though the section of the Great Barrier Reef it was found in experienced bleaching in 2016. Bleaching happens when the water gets too warm, which causes the coral to expel living algae then calcify and turn white.


The coral was found off the coast of North Queensland. Since the late 1800s, seven other detached reefs have been discovered in this area, however this is the first time a discovery of this size has been made in 120 years.

ROV Dive 401 (Pt B) - Newly Discovered 500m Tall Reefyoutu.be

The coral was found when a team of scientists from James Cook University were mapping the northern seafloor of the Great Barrier Reef using an underwater robot called SuBastian. The scientists also collected samples, which will be archived and placed in the Queensland Museum and the Museum of Tropical Queensland.

"To find a new half-a-kilometer tall reef in the offshore Cape York area of the well-recognized Great Barrier Reef shows how mysterious the world is just beyond our coastline," Jyotika Virmani, the executive director of Schmidt Ocean Institute, said in a statement. The Schmidt Ocean Institute was behind the expedition, and is a nonprofit that supports ocean research founded by ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy.

The Great Barrier Reef, which stretches over 1,400 miles, and was designated as a World Heritage site in 1981. Unfortunately, the Great Barrier Reef experienced bleaching events in 2016 and 2017. Afterward, the number of newly born corals fell 89% below the historically average amount. On top of that, the replacement corals weren't as big and branching as they used to be, leading some to believe the ocean habitat will never be the same again. The Great Barrier Reef has experienced bleaching before, and has normally rebounded, however the size of the bleaching in 2016 and 2017 is what's worrisome.

While climate change is changing more than just the climate, it's great to know there is marine life that is, in some ways, still thriving.

Once upon a time, there was coral.

Coral lives in the ocean and forms massive, magnificent reefs when it binds together. The reefs, with their hard bony structure and various nooks and crannies, provide protection and shelter for all manner of marine wildlife.


Photo by Hassan Ammar/AFP/Getty Images.

Then algae came bouncing along, and something beautiful happened.

Algae, one of the oldest lifeforms on the planet, had been drifting through the ocean waters for millions of years, attaching itself to anything it could in order to reproduce.

Algae! Photo via Simon Andrews/Wikimedia Commons.

Algae found a home with coral, and the two quickly fell in love.

Coral provides carbon nutrients and protection for algae, and algae provides food for coral through its photosynthesis. It's a perfect symbiotic partnership, and algae and coral found out they were a match made in heaven. On Earth. In the ocean.

Everyone was happy. Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images.

For hundreds of millions of years, coral and algae's relationship has been rock solid. But times are unfortunately changing.

You know how sudden, massive changes in your life can put a stress on your relationship? Like the loss of a job or a death in the family? Well, the same thing can happen to coral and algae.

When the couple's environment experiences sudden changes, coral reefs can get stressed out, which affects its ability to be the good, supportive partner algae fell in love with. The algae is then forced to abandon the coral and seek out a better life elsewhere in the sea.

This is a process known as coral bleaching.

The coral looks "bleached" because algae is what gives it its bright green color. Photo by STR/AFP/Getty Images.

One of the largest coral reefs in the world, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, has been abandoned by almost all of its algae.

It's one of the most significant coral bleaching events ever recorded and possibly the biggest oceanic celebrity breakup since South America left Africa in the great Pangea split.

Currently, 93% of the Great Barrier Reef has been left by its algae — a scarily high number, one which has never been seen before.

The Great Barrier Reef is visited by about 1.6 million people every year. Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images.

Who's to blame for this deep-sea Shakespearian romantic tragedy?

One of the most significant coral stressors is changing ocean surface temperatures. The "photosynthetic efficiency" of coral and algae's millennias-old lovefest drops if temperatures become too warm or too cold.

Lately, human-made climate change has pushed ocean surface temperatures way above normal. Australian ocean temperatures are also greatly affected by El Niño, which has recently become more extreme as a result of the greenhouse warming of the planet.

Greenpeace activists painting a message on the side of a coal ship. Photo by Greenpeace via Getty Images.

That temperature shift has forced algae to pack its bags and leave the Great Barrier Reef cold, lonely, and in serious danger.

To be fair, parts of the Great Barrier Reef will regain their algae population when (or if) ocean temperatures drop back down. But scientists have already seen large portions of the reef permanently die due to the sudden loss of algae.

Some scientists estimate that the Great Barrier Reef will face total extinction in decades. Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images.

Global climate change will also continue to produce temperature extremes unless we do something about it, meaning that coral stressors will become worse and worse every year, and these bleaching events will become even more significant.

There are 8 billion reasons to fight climate change. Now there's one more.

One of Earth's oldest and best love stories is coming to an end off the coast of Australia, but fighting back against climate change can save it.

If you don't want to do it for humanity, do it for Earth's greatest couple. Do it for a partnership that deserves to continue.

Do it for love.

True
The Wilderness Society

Australia's Great Barrier Reef is one spectacular (and sometimes scary, but always beautiful) place.

1. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a lion fish. Gorgeous, but dangerous. All images via iStock.


I mean, just look at it...

2. Don't you want to jump right in?

It's unlike any other reef in the world.

3. Beneath the surface of that water is a whole lot of life.

Why? Well, for starters, it's enormous.

4. Now that's a view.

It covers over 1,400 miles (that's more than the distance from New York City to Miami, FYI), and is the only living thing visible from space.

The Great Barrier Reef — the largest coral reef on Earth — actually comprises more than 3,000 smaller reef systems and hundreds of islands.

5. Check out the Whitsunday Islands. They're beautiful!

It has World Heritage status and definitely deserves it.

World Heritage status is the United Nations' way of deeming a certain place or human creation as having significant cultural or physical value to humanity. National Geographic perfectly explains why the reef has been designated as such:

"The most riveting sight of all — and the main reason for World Heritage status — is the vast expanse of coral, from staghorn stalks and wave-smoothed plates to mitt-shaped boulders draped with nubby brown corals as leathery as saddles. Soft corals top hard ones, algae and sponges paint the rocks, and every crevice is a creature's home. The biology, like the reef, transforms from the north — where the reef began — to the south. The shifting menagerie is unmatched in the world."

6. Look at these yellow and white beauties.

The Great Barrier Reef is more than just beautiful, though — it's home to an absurd amount of unique species.

Like puffer fish.

7. Puffer fish are amazing ... but definitely don't eat one.

And clown fish.

8. Yes, like Nemo!

Giant potato cod also call these waters home.

9. This big fella can change colors depending on its surroundings.

As well as parrot fish.

10.Colorful, huh?

And lion fish.

11. Remember this beautiful specimen from photo #1?

You might spot a jellyfish floating around Down Under, too.

12. If you don't know how to stay safe from jellyfish, you should.

Or, if you're lucky, one of these things! A marine turtle.

13. These are just the coolest.

Don't forget about octopus, either.

14. These species are way cool ... especially the mimic octopus.

Or trigger fish, which aren't shaped this way by accident.

15. Trigger fish are long and slim — perfect for slithering into coral crevices.

I could go on and on — seriously, there are over 1,800 species of fishalone in the Great Barrier Reef — but you get my drift.

These creatures (and so many others) are incredibly important to ocean wildlife.

And that's why it's essential that their home stays protected.

16. Why would we ever want to destroy a place that looks like this?

We need to take action in big ways — like get serious in our fight against climate change (which is already affecting many of the reef's species) and protect the coral and its inhabitants from those of us humans who enjoy fishing and collecting (even if it's at the expense of an entire ecosystem).

If we want to, we can keep the ocean life off Australia's coasts thriving for generations to come.

That's why you should support the Wilderness Society, who are fighting Big Oil in Australia.

The group is demanding that BP stays out of the Great Australian Bight — another pristine marine region Down Under. Fun fact: More than 85% of the species in the shallows of the Bight can be found nowhere else on Earth!.

To support the Wilderness Society, sign their petition to keep BP out of the Bight for good.

17. I'm fairly certain Nemo and his friends would appreciate us protecting their home.