Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs Marine National Nature Reserve
Environment Australia, 2002
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About the Reserve
Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs are situated 600 kilometres off the east coast of Australia, about 150 kilometres north of Lord Howe Island. These isolated reefs, which rise from underwater volcanoes, are the southern-most open-ocean platform reefs in the world, and two of very few examples of platform coral reefs that have developed far from the tropics.
The reefs are located where warm currents from the tropics meet cold currents from the south. The changing water temperatures, together with the isolation of the reefs, have created an unusual community of marine life. They provide habitat for a number of species not commonly seen as well as some molluscs and fish that occur nowhere else.
The reefs are the last secure refuge in Australia for the once common black cod fish. They are also important feeding grounds for green turtles. Exposed shipwrecks provide a resting place for small numbers of seabirds and waders migrating between the northern and southern hemispheres.
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