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Belize Barrier Reef
 
 
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The Belize Barrier Reef is a series of coral reef
Coral reef

Coral reefs are aragonite structures produced by living organisms. In most reefs the predominant organisms are colonial cnidarian that secrete an exoskeleton of calcium carbonate....
s straddling the coast of Belize
Belize

Belize , formerly British Honduras, is a country in Central America. Once part of the Maya civilization, and very briefly the Spanish Empire, it was most recently affiliated with the British Empire, prior to gaining its independence in 1981....
, roughly offshore in the north and in the south within the country limits. The Belize Barrier Reef is a long section of the long Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System
Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System

The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System stretches from the tip of the Yucat?n Peninsula down to the Bay Islands of Honduras. It includes the Belize Barrier Reef....
, which is continuous from Cancún
Cancún

Canc?n is a coastal city in Mexico's easternmost state, Quintana Roo, on the Yucat?n Peninsula. Cancun is located on the Yucatan Channel that separates Mexico from the island of Cuba in the Greater Antilles....
 on the northeast tip of the Yucatán Peninsula
Yucatán Peninsula

The Yucat?n Peninsula, in southeastern Mexico, separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico, with the northern coastline on the Yucat?n Channel....
 through the Riviera Maya up to offshore Guatemala
Guatemala

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize and the Caribbean to the northeast, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast....
, making it the second largest coral reef system in the world after the Great Barrier Reef
Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately ....
 in Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, popular for scuba diving and snorkeling.






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The Belize Barrier Reef is a series of coral reef
Coral reef

Coral reefs are aragonite structures produced by living organisms. In most reefs the predominant organisms are colonial cnidarian that secrete an exoskeleton of calcium carbonate....
s straddling the coast of Belize
Belize

Belize , formerly British Honduras, is a country in Central America. Once part of the Maya civilization, and very briefly the Spanish Empire, it was most recently affiliated with the British Empire, prior to gaining its independence in 1981....
, roughly offshore in the north and in the south within the country limits. The Belize Barrier Reef is a long section of the long Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System
Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System

The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System stretches from the tip of the Yucat?n Peninsula down to the Bay Islands of Honduras. It includes the Belize Barrier Reef....
, which is continuous from Cancún
Cancún

Canc?n is a coastal city in Mexico's easternmost state, Quintana Roo, on the Yucat?n Peninsula. Cancun is located on the Yucatan Channel that separates Mexico from the island of Cuba in the Greater Antilles....
 on the northeast tip of the Yucatán Peninsula
Yucatán Peninsula

The Yucat?n Peninsula, in southeastern Mexico, separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico, with the northern coastline on the Yucat?n Channel....
 through the Riviera Maya up to offshore Guatemala
Guatemala

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize and the Caribbean to the northeast, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast....
, making it the second largest coral reef system in the world after the Great Barrier Reef
Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately ....
 in Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, popular for scuba diving and snorkeling. It is Belize's top tourist destination, attracting almost half of its 260,000 visitors, and vital to its fishing industry.

Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin Royal Society was an English people natural history who realised and presented compelling evidence that all species of life have evolution over time from common descent, through the process he called natural selection....
 described it as "the most remarkable reef in the West Indies" in 1842.

Species

The Belize Barrier Reef is home to a large diversity of plants and animals, one of the most diverse ecosystem
Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical factors of the environment....
s of the world:
  • 70 hard coral species
  • 36 soft coral
    Alcyonacea

    The Alcyonacea, or the soft corals are an order of corals which do not produce calcium carbonate skeletons and so are neither reef-building corals nor do they lay new foundations for future corals....
     species
  • 500 species of fish
  • hundreds of invertebrate
    Invertebrate

    An invertebrate is an animal lacking a vertebral column. The group includes 98% of all animal species ? all animals except those in the Chordate subphylum vertebrate ....
     species
With 90% of the reef still needing to be researched, it is estimated that only 10% of all species have been discovered.

Environmental protection

A large portion of the reef is protected by the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, which includes seven marine reserve
Marine reserve

For the United States Marine Corps Reserve see: Marine Forces ReserveA marine reserve is an area of the sea which has legal protection against fishing or development....
s, 450 cay
Cay

A cay is a small, low-elevation, sandy island formed on the surface of coral reefs. Cays occur in tropical environments throughout the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and Indian Oceans , where they provide habitable and agricultural land for hundreds of thousands of people....
s, and three atoll
Atoll

An atoll is an island of coral that encircles a lagoon partially or completely....
s. It totals 960 km² (370 miles²) in area, including:
  • Glover's Reef Marine Reserve
  • Great Blue Hole
    Great Blue Hole

    The Great Blue Hole is a large Blue hole off of the coast of Belize. It lies near the center of Lighthouse Reef, a small atoll from the mainland and Belize City....
  • Half Moon Caye Natural Monument
  • Hol Chan Marine Reserve
    Hol Chan Marine Reserve

    Hol Chan Marine Reserve is a marine reserve close to Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker, off the coast of Belize. It covers approximately 18 km? of coral reefs, seagrass beds, and mangrove forest....
  • Cays include: Ambergris Caye
    Ambergris Caye

    Ambergris Caye, pronounced "am-BER-gis", is the largest island of Belize located northeast of the country in the Caribbean Sea. Though administered as part of the Belize District, the closest point on the mainland is part of the Corozal District....
    , Caye Caulker
    Caye Caulker

    Caye Caulker is a small limestone coral island off the coast of Belize in the Caribbean Sea measuring about 5 miles by less than 1 mile . The town on the island is known by the name Caye Caulker Village, though the correct name from old maps is Santa Elena....
    , Caye Chapel
    Caye Chapel

    Caye Chapel is a small island in Belize, 16 miles north-northeast of Belize City and south of Caye Caulker.In comparison to other typically rural cayes and islands in the vicinity, it is an exclusive area, featuring among others an 18 hole golf course, 25,000 square foot clubhouse and conference facilities....
    , St. George's Caye
    St. George's Caye

    St. George's Caye is an island in the Caribbean Sea, eight miles east of Belize City. It is part of the Belize District of Belize, Central America....
    , English Caye, Rendezvous Caye, Gladden Caye, Ranguana Caye, Long Caye, Maho Caye, Blackbird Caye, Three Coner Caye.
Because of its exceptional natural beauty, significant on-going ecological and biological processes, and it contains the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity (criteria VII, IX, and X), the Reserve System has been designated as a World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site that is on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 Sovereign state which are elected by their General Assembly for a four-year term....
 since 1996.

Despite these protective measures, the reef is under threat from oceanic pollution, uncontrolled tourism, shipping, and fishing. Hurricanes, global warming, and the resulting increase in ocean temperatures are a particularly significant threat, causing coral bleaching
Coral bleaching

Coral bleaching is the loss of color of corals, due to stress-induced expulsion of symbiotic unicellular algae or due to the loss of pigmentation within the algae....
. It is claimed by scientists that over 40% of Belize's coral reef has been damaged since 1998.

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