A warm tropical sea off north-east Australia, home to the Great Barrier Reef — the largest living structure on Earth.
Area
4,791,000 km²
Ocean basin
Pacific
Location
Home of the Great Barrier Reef
Average depth
about 2,400 m
Maximum depth
about 9,140 m
Salinity
~35 ppt
Temperature
Warm, 21–28°C
Region
Off north-east Australia
About the Coral Sea
The Coral Sea washes against the north-east coast of Australia and holds the Great Barrier Reef, a 2,300 km maze of coral that is the biggest structure ever made by living things. Its clear, warm waters teem with fish, turtles, sharks and rays, making it one of the richest marine wildlife regions on the planet.
Did you know?
The Great Barrier Reef within it is so large it can be seen from space, built by billions of tiny coral animals.
Highlights
- Contains the Great Barrier Reef
- The reef is visible from space
- One of the richest marine habitats on Earth
Photo gallery
Life in the Coral Sea
Creatures, seabirds and marine plants — including some of the rarest and strangest — that live in these waters.
Creatures of the deep
Manta ray
A gentle giant that “flies” through the water on wings up to seven metres across.
Whale shark
The largest fish alive — a spotted, harmless giant that strains plankton from the sea.
Christmas tree worm
A tube worm whose feathery, spiralled crowns dot tropical corals in every colour.
Mantis shrimp
A reef crustacean with the fastest strike in nature and the most complex eyes on Earth.
Pygmy seahorse
A thumbnail-sized seahorse camouflaged so perfectly on sea fans it was found by accident.
Nudibranch (sea slug)
Dazzlingly coloured sea slugs that steal stings — and even sunlight — from the food they eat.
Hammerhead shark
Its wing-shaped head is packed with sensors that detect prey buried in the sand.
Green sea turtle
The only sea turtle that grazes seagrass as an adult, which tints its fat green.
Clownfish
Lives unharmed among an anemone’s stinging tentacles; every clownfish is born male.
Moray eel
A reef ambush predator with a hidden second set of jaws in its throat to drag prey down.
Seabirds
Frigatebird
A pirate of tropical skies; the male balloons a scarlet throat pouch to court mates.
Marine plants & algae
Coralline algae
Stony pink algae that cement coral reefs together and help them grow.
Turtle grass
A tropical seagrass whose meadows feed turtles, manatees and dugongs.
Surface & deep in the Coral Sea
The sea is warm where the Sun reaches it and cold far below. Flip between the sunlit surface and the deep water to feel the difference — these are typical figures for a sea.
Sunlit surface
22°C
typical surface temperature
Seas warm strongly at the surface in summer, but their deeper water stays cold and still — the sunlight simply never reaches it.
Recorded range for the Coral Sea: Warm, 21–28°C