0_Wizard
Snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef must be amazing.
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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, Australia. 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. CNN labelled it one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
Environmental threats to the Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest reef system, stretching along the East coast of Australia from the northern tip down to the town of Bundaberg, is composed of roughly 2,900 individual reefs and 940 islands and cays that stretch for 2,300 kilometres (1,616 mi) and cover an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland in northeast Australia. A large part of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. According to the 2014 report of the Australian Government's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), says that climate change is the most significant environmental threat to the Great Barrier Reef, while the other major environmental pressures are listed as decreased water quality from land-based runoff, impacts from coastal development and some persistent impacts from fishing activities.
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park protects a large part of Australia's Great Barrier Reef from damaging activities. It is a vast multiple-use Marine Park which supports a wide range of uses, including commercial marine tourism, fishing, ports and shipping, recreation, scientific research and Indigenous traditional use. Fishing and the removal of artefacts or  wildlife (fish, coral, seashells, etc.) is strictly regulated, and commercial shipping traffic must stick to certain specific defined shipping routes that avoid the most sensitive areas of the park. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest and best known coral reef ecosystem in the world.
Coral reef
Coral reefs are diverse underwater ecosystems held together by calcium carbonate structures secreted by corals. Coral reefs are built by colonies of tiny animals found in marine water that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps belong to a group of animals known as Cnidaria, which also includes sea anemones and jellyfish. Unlike sea anemones, corals secrete hard carbonate exoskeletons which support and protect the coral polyps. Most reefs grow best in warm, shallow, clear, sunny and agitated water. Often called "rainforests of the sea", shallow coral reefs form some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth.
Tourism on the Great Barrier Reef
Tourism is one of the major industries in the Great Barrier Reef region. Approximately two million people visit the Great Barrier Reef each year. According to the WWF, tourism of the area contributes $5.4 billion a year to the Australian economy, and employs approximately 69,000 people. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg sees the key competitive advantage of the Great Barrier Reef as opposed to other, closer, reef tourism destinations is the region's reputation as being "the most pristine coral reef on the planet". The GBRMPA states that careful management, which includes permits for camping and all commercial marine tourism within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, has so far ensured that tourists have a very minimal impact on the reef.
Impacts of ocean acidification on the Great Barrier Reef
Ocean acidification threatens the Great Barrier Reef by reducing the viability and strength of coral reefs. The Great Barrier Reef, considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world and a biodiversity hotspot, is located in Australia. Similar to other coral reefs, it is experiencing degradation due to ocean acidification. Ocean acidification results from a rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide, which is taken up by the ocean. This process can increase sea surface temperature, decrease aragonite, and lower the pH of the ocean. Calcifying organisms are under risk, due to the resulting lack of aragonite in the water and the decreasing pH.
Crown-of-thorns starfish
The crown-of-thorns starfish, "Acanthaster planci", is a large, multiple-armed starfish that usually preys upon hard, or stony, coral polyps (Scleractinia). The crown-of-thorns starfish receives its name from venomous thorn-like spines that cover its upper surface, resembling the biblical crown of thorns. It is one of the largest starfish in the world. "A. planci" has a very wide Indo-Pacific distribution. It is perhaps most common in Australia, but can occur at tropical and subtropical latitudes from the Red Sea and the east African coast across the Indian Ocean, and across the Pacific Ocean to the west coast of Central America.
1_Apprentice
Could only imagine
0_Wizard
A coral reef is often called "the rainforest of the sea"
Often called "rainforests of the sea", shallow coral reefs form some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth.
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Coral reef
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Coral reef
Coral reefs are diverse underwater ecosystems held together by calcium carbonate structures secreted by corals. Coral reefs are built by colonies of tiny animals found in marine water that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps belong to a group of animals known as Cnidaria, which also includes sea anemones and jellyfish. Unlike sea anemones, corals secrete hard carbonate exoskeletons which support and protect the coral polyps. Most reefs grow best in warm, shallow, clear, sunny and agitated water. Often called "rainforests of the sea", shallow coral reefs form some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth.
Coral reef fish
Coral reef fish are fish which live amongst or in close relation to coral reefs. Coral reefs form complex ecosystems with tremendous biodiversity. Among the myriad inhabitants, the fish stand out as colourful and interesting to watch. Hundreds of species can exist in a small area of a healthy reef, many of them hidden or well camouflaged. Reef fish have developed many ingenious specialisations adapted to survival on the reefs. Coral reefs occupy less than one percent of the surface area of the world oceans, but still they provide a home for 25 percent of all marine fish species. Reef habitats are a sharp contrast to the open water habitats that make up the other 99% of the world oceans.
Southeast Asian coral reefs
Southeast Asian coral reefs have the highest levels of biodiversity for the world's marine ecosystems. They serve many functions, such as forming the livelihood for subsistence fishermen and even function as jewelry and construction materials. Coral reefs are developed by the carbonate-based skeletons of a variety of animals and algae. Slowly and overtime, the reefs build up to the surface in oceans. Coral reefs are found in shallow, warm salt water. The sunlight filters through clear water and allows microscopic organisms to live and reproduce. The Indian Ocean holds 60% of the world's coastal reefs, 25% are in the Pacific and 15% are in the western Atlantic.
Environmental issues with coral reefs
Human impact on coral reefs is significant. Coral reefs are dying around the world. Damaging activities include coral mining, pollution (organic and non-organic), overfishing, blast fishing, the digging of canals and access into islands and bays. Other dangers include disease, destructive fishing practices and warming oceans. Factors that affect coral reefs include the ocean's role as a carbon dioxide sink, atmospheric changes, ultraviolet light, ocean acidification, viruses, impacts of dust storms carrying agents to far-flung reefs, pollutants, algal blooms and others. Reefs are threatened well beyond coastal areas.
Crown-of-thorns starfish
The crown-of-thorns starfish, "Acanthaster planci", is a large, multiple-armed starfish that usually preys upon hard, or stony, coral polyps (Scleractinia). The crown-of-thorns starfish receives its name from venomous thorn-like spines that cover its upper surface, resembling the biblical crown of thorns. It is one of the largest starfish in the world. "A. planci" has a very wide Indo-Pacific distribution. It is perhaps most common in Australia, but can occur at tropical and subtropical latitudes from the Red Sea and the east African coast across the Indian Ocean, and across the Pacific Ocean to the west coast of Central America.
Coral bleaching
Coral bleaching occurs when coral polyps expel algae that live inside their tissues. Normally, coral polyps live in an endosymbiotic relationship with the algae and that relationship is crucial for the coral and hence for the health of the whole reef. Bleached corals might continue to live for some time. But as the algae provide the coral with up to 90% of its energy, after expelling the algae the coral begins to starve. After bleaching, some corals may recover, while some die. Above-average sea water temperatures caused by global warming have been identified as a leading cause for coral bleaching worldwide.
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, Australia. 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. CNN labelled it one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
1_Apprentice
I could see that. I would love to do that some day soon!
0_Wizard
I guess it could compared to a rainforest due to the complex ecosystem with tremendous diodivirsity
Coral reefs form complex ecosystems with tremendous biodiversity.
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Coral reef fish
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Amphibian
Amphibians are ectothermic, tetrapod vertebrates of the class Amphibia. Modern amphibians are all Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arboreal or freshwater aquatic ecosystems. Thus amphibians typically start out as larvae living in water, but some species have developed behavioural adaptations to bypass this. The young generally undergo metamorphosis from larva with gills to an adult air-breathing form with lungs. Amphibians use their skin as a secondary respiratory surface and some small terrestrial salamanders and frogs lack lungs and rely entirely on their skin.
Boulengerula niedeni
The Sagalla caecilian (Boulengerula niedeni) is a worm-like amphibian first described in 2005. The species was described from a specimen discovered on Sagala Hill, an isolated mountain block of the Taita Hills in Kenya, and is not know from other areas. Little of original forest remains on Sagalla Hill, but the species seems to adapt to human disturbance associated with small-scale farming activities; it is not found in the eucalyptus plantations that cover much of the hill. Because of the small range of this species, it is listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Deforestation in Brazil
Brazil once had the highest deforestation rate in the world and in 2005 still had the largest area of forest removed annually. Since 1970, over of the Amazon rainforest have been destroyed. In 2012, the Amazon was approximately 5.4 million square kilometres, which is only 87% of the Amazon's original state. Rainforests have decreased in size primarily due to deforestation. Despite reductions in the rate of deforestation in the last ten years, the Amazon Rainforest will be reduced by 40% by 2030 at the current rate. Between May 2000 and August 2006, Brazil lost nearly 150,000 square kilometres of forest, an area larger than that of Greece.
Caecilian
Caecilians (; New Latin for "blind ones") are a group of limbless, serpentine amphibians. They mostly live hidden in the ground, making them the least familiar order of amphibians. All modern caecilians and their closest fossil relatives are grouped as a clade, Apoda, within the larger group Gymnophiona, which also includes more primitive extinct caecilian-like amphibians. Caecilians are mostly distributed in the tropics of South and Central America, Africa, and southern Asia. Their diet consists of earthworms and small subterranean creatures. Caecilians completely lack limbs, making the smaller species resemble worms, while the larger species, with lengths up to , resemble snakes.
Ecosystem-based management
Ecosystem-based management is an environmental management approach that recognizes the full array of interactions within an ecosystem, including humans, rather than considering single issues, species, or ecosystem services in isolation (Christensen et al. 1996, McLeod et al. 2005). Terrestrial ecosystem-based management (often referred to as ecosystem management) came into its own during the conflicts over endangered species protection (particularly the northern spotted owl), land conservation, and water, grazing and timber rights in the western United States in the 1980s and 1990s (Yaffee 1999).
Chiapas
Chiapas (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas (), is one of the 31 states that with Mexico City make up the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 124 municipalities as of September 2017 and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutiérrez. Other important population centers in Chiapas include Ocosingo, Tapachula, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Comitán and Arriaga. It is the southernmost state, bordered by the states of Oaxaca to the west, Veracruz to the northwest and Tabasco to the north, and by the Petén, Quiché, Huehuetenango and San Marcos departments of Guatemala to the east and southeast.
Cayenne caecilian
The Cayenne caecilian, Typhlonectes compressicauda, is a species of amphibian in the Typhlonectidae family that lives in water. It is found in the Amazonian Brazil, Peru, and Colombia as well as in Guyana and French Guiana, and likely Suriname, and according to some sources, Venezuela. It is an aquatic caecilian that inhabits permanent rivers and marshes mainly in the lowland forest zone. The Cayenne caecilian is an elongated, dark grey, black or steely blue amphibian with no limbs. The body is flattened laterally and has a number of transverse folds, giving it a segmented appearance. A long fin runs along its back, and it grows to a length of .
1_Apprentice
and all of the amazing life that it holds!
0_Wizard
I did some snorkeling in the Bahamas a few years ago, it was an excursion on a cruise. 
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Snorkeling
Snorkeling (British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped breathing tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters, a wetsuit may also be worn. Use of this equipment allows the snorkeler to observe underwater attractions for extended periods with relatively little effort and to breathe while face-down at the surface. Snorkeling is a popular recreational activity, particularly at tropical resort locations. The primary appeal is the opportunity to observe underwater life in a natural setting without the complicated equipment and training required for scuba diving.
Miami
Miami (; ) is a major port city on the Atlantic coast of south Florida in the southeastern United States. As the seat of Miami-Dade County, the municipality is the principal, central, and the most populous city of the Miami metropolitan area and part of the second-most populous metropolis in the southeastern United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Miami's metro area is the eighth-most populous and fourth-largest urban area in the U.S., with a population of around 5.5 million. Miami is a major center, and a leader in finance, commerce, culture, media, entertainment, the arts, and international trade.
Biscayne National Park
Biscayne National Park is a U.S. National Park located in southern Florida, south of Miami. The park preserves Biscayne Bay and its offshore barrier reefs. Ninety-five percent of the park is water, and the shore of the bay is the location of an extensive mangrove forest. The park covers and includes Elliott Key, the park's largest island and first of the true Florida Keys, formed from fossilized coral reef. The islands farther north in the park are transitional islands of coral and sand. The offshore portion of the park includes the northernmost region of the Florida Reef, one of the largest coral reefs in the world.
Staniel Cay
Staniel Cay is an island located in The Exuma Cays, a district of The Bahamas. Staniel Cay is located roughly south of Nassau and southeast of Florida. The island has a population of less than 118 full-time residents and has an area of less than . Staniel Cay is inhabited by a small Bahamian village which lies on the western shore. The village is composed of residential housing, a church, a post office, a library, three small retail stores and marine supply shops. Staniel Cay is protected by the Bahamas National Trust, the organization in charge of the conservation and preservation of places of historic interest and natural beauty in The Bahamas.
The Bahamas
The Bahamas (), known officially as the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic state within the Lucayan Archipelago. It consists of more than 700 islands, cays, and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, and is located north of Cuba and Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, southeast of the United States state of Florida, and east of the Florida Keys. The capital is Nassau on the island of New Providence. The designation of "the Bahamas" can refer either to the country or to the larger island chain that it shares with the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Cruise ship
A cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are a part of the experience, as well as the different destinations along the way, i.e., ports of call. Transportation is not the only purpose of cruising, particularly on cruises that return passengers to their originating port (also known as a "closed-loop cruise"), with the ports of call usually in a specified region of a continent. There are even "cruises to nowhere" or "nowhere voyages" where the ship makes 2–3 night round trips without any ports of call. By contrast, dedicated transport oriented ocean liners do "line voyages" and typically transport passengers from one point to another, rather than on round trips.
Early human migrations
The earliest migrations and expansions of archaic and modern humans across continents began 2 million years ago with the migration out of Africa of "Homo erectus", followed by other archaic humans including "H. heidelbergensis", the likely ancestor of both anatomically modern humans and Neanderthals, around 500,000 years ago. Within Africa, "Homo sapiens" diverged around the time of its speciation, roughly 300,000 years ago. The "recent African origin" paradigm suggests that the anatomically modern humans outside of Africa descend from a population of "Homo sapiens" migrating from East Africa after roughly 70,000 years ago and spread along the southern coast of Asia and to Oceania before 50,000 years ago.
1_Apprentice
I bet that was fun. I wish I would have done that while there