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Coral Sea Marine Park
The Coral Sea Marine Park (previously known as the Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve) is an Australian marine park located in the Coral Sea off the coast of Queensland. The marine park covers an area of and is assigned IUCN category IV. It is Australia's largest single marine park and together with the French Natural Park of the Coral Sea (french: Parc Naturel de la Mer de Corail) form the largest protected area in the World. The Coral Sea Marine Park lies directly adjacent to and east of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Conservation values Species and habitat *Humpback whales during their annual migration along the east coast of Australia; *Nesting and inter-nesting sites for green turtles; *Breeding and foraging areas for multiple seabird species including noddies, terns, boobies, frigatebirds, and tropic birds; *White shark distribution and whale shark aggregation. *Transient populations of highly migratory pelagic species, including small fish schools, billfish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parks Australia
Director of National Parks is a government-owned corporation of the Australian government responsible for the management of a portfolio of terrestrial and marine protected areas proclaimed under the ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (''EPBC Act''). The agency is a corporation sole. Parks Australia (formerly the Australian Nature Conservation Agency and the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service) is a division of the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment which supports the Director of National Parks in the management of six Commonwealth national parks, the Australian National Botanic Gardens, and Australian marine parks. Legal status and history The Director of National Parks was established under the EPBC Act as a corporation sole, i.e. the corporation is constituted by the person appointed to the office named the Director of National Parks. It was established on 17 July 2000 upon the proclamation of the EPBC Act and is a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whale Shark
The whale shark (''Rhincodon typus'') is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of .McClain CR, Balk MA, Benfield MC, Branch TA, Chen C, Cosgrove J, Dove ADM, Gaskins LC, Helm RR, Hochberg FG, Lee FB, Marshall A, McMurray SE, Schanche C, Stone SN, Thaler AD. 2015. "Sizing ocean giants: patterns of intraspecific size variation in marine megafauna". ''PeerJ'' 3:e715 . The whale shark holds many records for size in the animal kingdom, most notably being by far the largest living nonmammalian vertebrate. It is the sole member of the genus ''Rhincodon'' and the only extant member of the family Rhincodontidae, which belongs to the subclass Elasmobranchii in the class Chondrichthyes. Before 1984 it was classified as ''Rhiniodon'' into Rhinodontidae. The whale shark is found in open waters of the tropical oceans and is rarely found in water below . Studies looking at vertebral growth bands and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Townsville
Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. Townsville hosts a significant number of governmental, community and major business administrative offices for the northern half of the state. Part of the larger local government area of the City of Townsville, it is in the dry tropics region of Queensland, adjacent to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef. The city is also a major industrial centre, home to one of the world's largest zinc refineries, a nickel refinery and many other similar activities. As of December 2020, $30M operations to expand the Port of Townsville are underway, which involve channel widening and installation of a 70-tonne Liebherr Super Post Panamax Ship-to-Shore crane, to allow much larger cargo and passenger ships to utilise the port. It is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lockhart River, Queensland
Lockhart River is a town in the Aboriginal Shire of Lockhart River and a coastal locality split between the Aboriginal Shire of Lockhart River and the Shire of Cook, on the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, Australia. In the , Lockhart River had a population of 724 people. From 1924 to 1967 the Lockhart River Mission was run by the Anglican Church. Geography Lockhart River is a coastal Aboriginal community situated on the eastern coast of Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, Australia. The population consists mostly of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, whose ancestors were forcibly moved to the area beginning in 1924. The locality includes a number of islands off the east coast: Chapman Island, Lloyd Island, Rocky Island, Sherrard Island and Sunter Island (all of which are in the Aboriginal Shire of Lockhart River) It is north by road from Cairns and approximately by road north of Brisbane. Lockhart River is the northernmost town on the east coast of Australia. The co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cato Reef
Cato Reef, a part of Cato Bank, is an area in the Coral Sea off the central coast of Queensland, Australia. Geography Cato Bank measures approximately with an area of . Water depth is typically less than . As part of Cato Bank, Cato Reef measures in at , with an area of . It includes a small, shallow lagoon that contains Cato Island, a low-relief cay in the west that is approximately , with an area of and an altitude of . Close to the southeast corner of Cato Bank is Hutchison Rock, with of water over it. Cato Island Cato Island (), is a small oval-shaped island lying approximately east of Gladstone, Queensland and about east-southeast of the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. This island is approximately south of Bird Islet, part of the east end of the Wreck Reefs. The island is a mound of coral debris and grit high, covered in grass and creepers up to high. An automatic weather station, with two radio masts and a silver-painted hut, stands on the island's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of The Coral Sea
The Battle of the Coral Sea, from 4 to 8 May 1942, was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces of the United States and Australia. Taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, the battle is historically significant as the first action in which the opposing fleets neither sighted nor fired upon one another, attacking over the horizon with aircraft carriers instead. To strengthen their defensive position in the South Pacific, the Japanese decided to invade and occupy Port Moresby (in New Guinea) and Tulagi (in the southeastern Solomon Islands). The plan, Operation Mo, involved several major units of Japan's Combined Fleet. Two fleet carriers and a light carrier were assigned to provide air cover for the invasion forces, under the overall command of Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue. The U.S. learned of the Japanese plan through signals intelligence and sent two U.S. Navy carrier task forces and a joint Australian-American cruise ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tasmantid Seamount Chain
The Tasmantid Seamount Chain is a long chain of seamounts in the South Pacific Ocean. The chain consists of over 16 extinct volcanic peaks, many rising more than from the seabed. It is one of the two parallel seamount chains alongside the East Coast of Australia; the Lord Howe and Tasmantid seamount chains both run north-south through parts of the Coral Sea and Tasman Sea. These chains have longitudes of approximately 159°E and 156°E respectively. Like its neighbour, the Tasmantid Seamount Chain has resulted from the Indo-Australian Plate moving northward over a stationary hotspot. It ranges in age from 40 to 6 million years old. Alternative names for the Tasmantid Seamount Chain include the Tasmantid Seamounts, Tasman Seamounts, Tasman Seamount Chain, Tasmantide Volcanoes or simply the Tasmantids. Features The Tasmantid Seamount Chain includes the following: * Barcoo Bank * Brisbane Guyot * Britannia Guyots *Cato Reef * Derwent Hunter Guyot * Fraser Seamount * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reef
A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock outcrops, etc.—but there are also reefs such as the coral reefs of tropical waters formed by biotic processes dominated by corals and coralline algae, and artificial reefs such as shipwrecks and other anthropogenic underwater structures may occur intentionally or as the result of an accident, and sometimes have a designed role in enhancing the physical complexity of featureless sand bottoms, to attract a more diverse assemblage of organisms. Reefs are often quite near to the surface, but not all definitions require this. Earth's largest coral reef system is the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, at a length of over . Biotic There is a variety of biotic reef types, including oyster reefs and sponge reefs, but the most massive and widely ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Marlin
The black marlin (''Istiompax indica'') is a species of marlin found in tropical and subtropical areas of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. With a maximum published length of and weight of , it is one of the largest marlins and also one of the largest bony fish. Marlin are among the fastest fish, but speeds are often wildly exaggerated in popular media, such as reports of . Recent research suggests a burst speed of is near the maximum rate. Black marlin are fished commercially and are also a highly prized game fish. Black marlins have been known to drag Maldivian fishing boats of the ancient times for very long distances until it got tired; and then it would then take many hours for the fishermen to row or sail back home. Taxonomy French naturalist Georges Cuvier described the black marlin in 1832 as ''Tetrapturus indicus''. Description Compared to striped or white marlins and sailfish, black marlins are more solid than their blue counterparts. They have a shorter bill and a rou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Australian Current
The East Australian Current (EAC) is a warm, southward, western boundary current that is formed from the South Equatorial Current (SEC) crossing the Coral Sea and reaching the eastern coast of Australia. At around 15° S near the Australian coast the SEC divides forming the southward flow of the EAC. It is the largest ocean current close to the shores of Australia. Behaviour The EAC reaches a maximum velocity at 30° S, where its flow can reach 90 cm/s. As it flows southward it splits from the coast at around 31° to 32° S. By the time it reaches 33° S it begins to undergo a southward meander while another portion of the transport turns back northward in a tight recirculation. At this location the EAC reaches its maximum transport of nearly 35 Sv (35 billion liters per second). The majority of the EAC flow that does not recirculate will move eastward into the Tasman Front, crossing the Tasman Sea just north of the cape of New Zealand. The remainder will flow sout ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shark
Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimorpha (or Selachii) and are the sister group to the rays. However, the term "shark" has also been used to refer to all extinct members of Chondrichthyes with a shark-like morphology, such as hybodonts and xenacanths. The oldest modern sharks are known from the Early Jurassic. They range in size from the small dwarf lanternshark (''Etmopterus perryi''), a deep sea species that is only in length, to the whale shark (''Rhincodon typus''), the largest fish in the world, which reaches approximately in length. Sharks are found in all seas and are common to depths up to . They generally do not live in freshwater, although there are a few known exceptions, such as the bull shark and the river shark, which can be found in both seawater and fresh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
