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Elizabeth Reef is a coral reef in the Tasman Sea. The reef is separated by a deep oceanic pass, some 45 km wide, from nearby Middleton Reef, both of which are part of the underwater plateau known as the Lord Howe Rise. It is around 160 km from Lord Howe Island and 555 km from the New South Wales coast of Australia. The (Environment, Sport and Territories Legislation Amendment Act 1997 ) included Elizabeth Reef in Australia's Coral Sea Islands Territory. It is one of the southernmost platform reefs in the world. It measures 8.2 km by 5.5 km. Despite the relatively high latitude, a wide variety of flora and fauna exists on the reef and in the surrounding waters due to their location where tropical and temperate ocean currents converge. At low tide most of the reef flat is exposed, at high tide only one cay is visible, Elizabeth Island, with a diameter of about 400 m and one metre above sea level. Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs form the Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs Marine National Park Reserve managed by the Government of Australia under the Natural Heritage Trust.〔(Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs Marine National Park Reserve )〕 ] ==Flora and fauna== Surveys by the Australian Institute of Marine Science have highlighted healthy number of black cod ''Epinephelus daemelii'', a threatened species〔(Black Cod net )〕 in New South Welsh waters.〔(Marine Surveys undertaken in the Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs Marine National Nature Reserve, December 2003 )〕 The survey in 2003 highlighted 111 species of coral and identified 181 species of fish. The total number of recorded fish species is 311 across several surveys. High numbers of Galapagos sharks ''Carcharhinus galapagensis'' were observed at the reef, which may indicate that the reef is a nursery. Sea cucumber (black teatfish), ''Holothuria whitmaei'',〔(Reefbase Online Library )〕 were found in high numbers. While the 2003 survey found only small numbers of crown-of-thorns starfish, a survey in 2005 indicated that it was active.〔(AIMS Reef Monitoring Elizabeth Reef )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Elizabeth Reef」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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