If you go
› What: “Great Barrier Reef 3D”› Where: Tennessee Aquarium Imax, 201 Chestnut St.› When: 7 p.m. premiere Thursday, May 23; then 1, 2, 4 and 5 p.m. daily with additional shows at 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays› Admission: $11.95 adults, $9.95 children 3-12› For more information: www.tnaqua.org
Stretching for more than 1,600 miles just off Australia’s northeast coast, the Great Barrier Reef is the kind of natural wonder that is draped in superlatives and mind-boggling statistics that still struggle to encompass its splendor and importance.
“One of the world’s greatest living wonders.” “An ecosystem of extraordinary diversity.”
Sprawling 132,000 square miles – an area larger than the combined footprints of Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina – the Great Barrier Reef comprises 10 percent of the world’s coral reef ecosystems and is the only natural structure that can be viewed, unaided, from space.
The reef is home to 600 types of coral, 1,600 kinds of fish, more than 200 bird species, 30 species of whales and dolphins and six of the world’s seven sea turtle species. Each year, more than 2.5 million people visit the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park to experience its stunning underwaterscapes.