Lihou Reef National Nature Reserve is a former

marine protected area Marine protected areas (MPA) are protected areas of seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity for a con ...

covering an area of 8440 km² in the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

Coral Sea Islands Territory Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secr ...

that was incorporated into the new Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve in December 2012. Together with the

Coringa-Herald National Nature Reserve Coringa-Herald National Nature Reserve is a former nature reserve in Australia’s Coral Sea Islands Territory that was incorporated into the new Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve in December 2012. The former nature reserve together with ...

, from which it is separated by about 100 km of open ocean, it forms the Coral Sea Reserves Ramsar Site, designated on 16 August 2002, listing it under the

Ramsar Convention The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It ...

as a wetland of international importance.

History

Lihou Reef and its cays were discovered by

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

John Lihou, R.N., on 23 February 1823. Lihou, then Master of the

brig-sloop In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' enc ...

HMS ''Zenobia'', was on passage from

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

. After a hazardous passage through the reef, the ship departed the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, A ...

via an opening near

Murray Islands Murray Islands is a group of small islands southeast of Cape Whitson, off the south coast of Laurie Island in the South Orkney Islands. Discovered in 1823 by Matthew Brisbane Matthew Brisbane (1787 – 8 August 1833) was a Scottish ma ...

. On 23 February, the Lihou Reefs were sighted.''Source: Hydrographic Service - Royal Australian Navy. (M.A. BOLGER. Lieutenant Commander RAN for DIRECTOR HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE. 19 July 1985)''

Description

Lihou Reef is the second largest

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gro ...

by total size in the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down the Australian northeast coast. Most of it is protected by the Fre ...

, after the Chesterfield Islands (not counting the completely submerged Lansdowne Bank in the easternmost reaches of the Coral Sea). It is U-shaped, with an opening in the south-west. The size of the

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into '' coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons ...

is about 100 by 30 km, with an area of 2529 km², making the atoll one of the largest in the world. Nevertheless, the total land area of the islets and cays is little more than a square kilometre. The lagoon is up to 60 m deep. The reserve contains 18 islets and cays, 9 each on the Northern Rim and the Southern Rim, ranging in size from 5,000 to 168,000 m².

Northern Rim

Total land area 560,000 m²; the islets on the Northern Rim are, from southwest to northeast (clockwise): * Juliette Cay (78,000 m²) * Kathy Cay (40,000 m²) * Lorna Cay (168,000 m²) * Little Margaret Cay (10,000 m²) * Margaret Cay (30,000 m²) * Turtle Islet (31,000 m²) * Middle Cay (78,000 m²) * Observatory Cay (88,000 m²) * Licklick Cay (40,000 m²) Only Lorna Cay and Turtle Islet are vegetated. Turtle Islet reaches a height of 6 m, and Observatory Cay 2 m.

Southern Rim

Total land area 470,000 m². The islets on the Southern Rim are, from northeast to southwest (clockwise): * Anne Cay, "No 1 Cay" (112,000 m²) * Betty Cay, "No 2 Cay" (37,000 m²) * Carol Cay, "No 3 Cay" (5,000 m²) * Dianna Cay, "No 4 Cay" (16,000 m²) * Fanny Cay, "No 5 Cay" (7,000 m²) * Edna Cay, "No 6 Cay" (73,000 m²) * Helen Cay, "No 7 Cay" (10,000 m²) * Georgina Cay, "No 8 Cay" (105,000 m²) * Nellie Cay, "No 9 Cay" (104,000 m²) Only the largest three of the Southern Rim, Anne Cay, Georgina Cay and Nellie Cay, are vegetated. Just northeast of Anne Cay is the Herald Passage into the lagoon.

References

External links

* {{Lighthouse identifiers , qid2=Q106104609 Coral Sea Islands Former protected areas of the Australian government Protected areas established in 2002 Protected areas disestablished in 2012 2002 establishments in Australia 2012 disestablishments in Australia Lighthouses in Coral Sea Islands