•    The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area has been divided into 70 different bioregions, with 30 reef bioregions and 40 are non-reef bioregions.

•    The biggest fish on the Great Barrier Reef is the whale shark, which can grow to about 12m long.

•    The oldest fish on the Reef is the red bass which can live to more than 50 years.

•    One of the species of turtle, the leatherback, is the largest sea turtle in the world and can weigh up to 916kg!

•    More than 5000 species of molluscs live in the Reef, including giant clams, cone shells, nudibranchs, octopus, cuttlefish and squid.

•    Over 600 species of echinoderms and more than 1500 species of sponges live there.

•    Some of the largest populations of dugongs in the world live there. These mammals are very peculiar because, while they are also known as sea cows, they are more closely related to elephants than other marine mammals. They graze on underwater grasses all the time and live in shallow waters.— NF