Great Barrier Reef

The  is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2300 km over an area of approximately 344400 km2. The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia, separated from the coast by a channel 100 mi wide in places and over 200 ft deep. The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms. This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps. It supports a wide diversity of life and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981.

Quotes

 * Flowers turned to stone! Not all the botany Of Joseph Banks, hung pensive in a porthole, Could find the Latin for this loveliness, Could put the Barrier Reef in a glass box Tagged by the horrid Gorgon squint Of horticulture. Stone turned to flowers It seemed—you’d snap a crystal twig, One petal even of the water-garden, And have it dying like a cherry-bough.
 * ... [T]here were more shoals outside Than teeth in a shark’s head.
 * Kenneth Slessor, "Five Visions of Captain Cook" (1931), II