Mondo Knows Facts
The Great Barrier Reef is the largest structure built by living organisms
It stretches over two thousand kilometres along the coast of Australia
Composed of billions of tiny coral polyps, the Great Barrier Reef spans roughly 2,300 kilometres off the coast of Queensland. It covers an area of about 344,400 square kilometres and is so massive that it can be seen from space. It provides habitat for thousands of marine species.
Where this comes from
Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
Go further
More facts like this
Barrow Island recorded the fastest non-tornado wind gustTropical Cyclone Olivia generated a gust of 408 kilometres per hourThe saltwater crocodile is the largest living reptile on EarthLarge males can exceed six metres in length and weigh over one tonnePoint Nemo is the farthest oceanic point from any land massThe closest islands sit nearly two thousand seven hundred kilometres awayThe colossal squid is the heaviest known invertebrate animalSpecimens recovered in Antarctic waters weigh up to 500 kilogramsThe Challenger Deep is the deepest known point in the oceanIt lies nearly 11 kilometres down at the southern end of the Mariana TrenchThe Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean on EarthIt covers more area than all of the world's land masses combined
Tags: coral reef, australia, ocean
The Great Barrier Reef is the largest structure built by living organisms: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- It stretches over two thousand kilometres along the coast of Australia. The figure is taken from UNESCO, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a records & extremes fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Records & Extremes shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.
