Osprey Reef
Coordinates: 13 ° 54 ′ 29 ″ S , 146 ° 36 ′ 55 ″ E
The Osprey Reef (literally: " Osprey -Riff") is a lying below the surface Atoll off the northeastern coast of the Australian state of Queensland . It is part of the Coral Sea, located Northwestern Islands Group and is located about 110 km off the Great Barrier Reef in the open sea.
The reef has an elongated, oval shape. It is about 25 km long, 12 km wide and has an area of about 195 km²; the circumference is 69.5 km. While the central lagoon is only 30 m deep, most of the outer reef drops vertically down to 2000 m. These steep walls are home to a population of common pearl boats ( Nautilus pompilius ), which is separated from other populations by over 100 km of open water. One of the world's smallest fish species, Schindleria brevipinguis , was discovered in 2004 in the Osprey Reef and scientifically described.
The Osprey Reef is under Australian administration and is located in a marine reserve. The number of ships allowed to visit the reef is limited, which is why there are only a handful of liveaboard boats allowed to take tourists to the Osprey Reef each week .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c A. Dunstan, CJ Bradshaw, J. Marshall: Nautilus at risk-estimating population size and demography of Nautilus pompilius. In: PloS one. Volume 6, number 2, 2011, p. E16716, doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0016716 , PMID 21347360 , PMC 3037370 (free full text).
- ↑ a b c Osprey. Dive the world, accessed February 17, 2014 .
- ^ W. Watson, HJ Walker: The world's smallest vertebrate, Schindleria brevipinguis. (PDF) A new paedomorphic species in the family Schindleriidae. (No longer available online.) 2004, formerly in the original ; accessed on February 17, 2014 (English). ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
